Bioblitz- Day 2: Slow Recovery

Day 2 of the BioBlitz dawned gray and cloudy, despite the promise of sunshine. Yes, we even got a bit more rain. I really feel sorry for the organizers. It's very obvious that a lot of work went into the preparation for this event. The species counts were very low relative to what they should have been. Terrestrial insects were particularly hard hit- you just don't see things like butterflies, dragonflies and tiger beetles in this sort of weather. Even the fish surveys were hampered- the water levels were just too high.

Cirsium pitcheri- Pitcher's Thistle

The plant folks were least impacted by the weather, and they saved the day in terms of recording biodiversity. The Indiana Dunes have an amazing plant list, including lots of endangered species. This Pitcher's Thistle is not quite in bloom yet. Not only is it endangered, it's a Great Lakes endemic.

It finally cleared up about an hour and a half before the Blitz ended. Robin and I went back to try to find Karner Blues and Olympia Marblewings. No success on either count. The wind turned off of the lake and the temperature dropped into the 50s.

Things took a turn for the better when I ran into my friends John and Jane. We decided that even though the official species count had ended, we'd go for a walk in Miller Woods and try one more time to see Olympia Marblewings.

John and Jane at the pannes at Miller Woods

We saw no Olympia Marblewings, but we did see some cool stuff. By mid afternoon, it was a beautiful spring day. The leaves on the oak trees are just beginning to unfold.

The damselfly Ishnura verticalis snacks on a small fly

Oak trees greening up around an interdunal pond
There were tons of whirligig beetles in the pond

One disappointment through much of the walk was that although we were traversing excellent tiger beetle habitat, we weren't seeing any. Finaly, as we were trudging through the dunes on the way back to the cars, Big Sand Tiger Beetles (Cicindela formosa) started showing up. I managed to get one of the best tiger beetle photos that I've ever taken. It was a wonderful end to a challenging BioBlitz. I was in bed by 8:15 that night.

Big Sand Tiger Beetle (Cicindela formosa)
This image embiggens well.