contact | about

•  

Sandhill Wildlife Area (May 8, 2005)

Last year I saw my first Ringed Boghaunter here near the middle of May, and this year I was hoping to see this species a little earlier and I was pleasantly surprised when I saw over ten of these on May 7th. Most of the ones I have seen are landing on the roads, and I have watched them land in trees, but have not been able to get close enough yet to photograph them. On the ground they are fairly easy to approach if you are slow and deliberate. I had to lie on the road to get the second headshot. I also saw an Ebony Boghaunter on May 8.

The following is a Dung Fly, Scatophaga stercoraria, which I have seen throughout central Wisconsin this spring. This one was living up to its namesake and it posed for about twenty photos before I got too close.

There are several varieties of violets in bloom, but my favorite by far is the bird’s-foot violet, Viola pedata, which is very common throughout the central Wisconsin sand counties.

The other is an uncommon species that I am unfamiliar with and need to ID, but it is a very pretty small violet that was common around an old gravel pit area.

Butterflies see on Sunday the 8th here included the following:

By far the most interesting to me was the Silvery Blue which was the earliest that I had seen this species ever by two weeks.

Tiger beetles were fairly common on the trails throughout the Sandhills, but I only saw C. scutellaria, including the pair shown here, and C. sexguttata.

By far the most exciting insect that I saw today was my first Northern Mole Cricket, that was totally out of its habitat, crawling around on the gravel road. I had only read about this species and was fascinated by how cool it looked!