In Water

“We are slow to realize water, —the beauty and magic of it. It is interestingly strange to us forever.” Henry David Thoreau, Journals, May 8 1854

“If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.” Loren Eiseley, The Immense Journey

Boyd Sartell WMA. A large natural area in southwestern Rice County. This WMA has, in previous years, supported populations of Taiga Bluets and Silvery Blues. And both damselfly and butterfly have been on the wing at the same time, usually about this time of year, both in and around the series of manmade ponds.

For the past several springs I’ve attempted to collect Taiga Bluet nymphs, each time without success. Last year, in North Dakota, I did finally locate several Taiga Bluet nymphs (of course this was while I was attempting to locate Prairie Bluet nymphs!). Like other Eurasian Bluets (genus Coenagrion) nymphs, the head of the Taiga Bluet nymph is speckled behind the eyes with tiny black dots. This makes it easy to separate them from the hordes of American Bluet (genus Enallagma), Forktail (genus Ischnura), and Sedge Sprite (genus Nehalennia) nymphs present.

Now that I knew how to identify the Taiga Bluet nymphs, I thought I’d try again to locate them at this site, searching the shallows at various points around the ponds with a dip net. No such luck.

Just like Thoreau’s pronouncement on water, the most common water inhabitants, such as the nymphs of Sedge Sprites (which turned up in spades this day) and the trilobite-esque Isopods, will remain “interestingly strange.”

Having a goal in mind can be an obstacle, can diminish the appreciation of other accomplishments, for example, the Two-lined Swamp Fly and the floating flight of Phantom Crane Flies, both observed near the ponds.

Posted on May 9, 2017 02:53 AM by scottking