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| Caterpillar strategically waits on dogbane plant for dogbane beetle to prey on. (Photo by Don Comis) |
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| Dogbane beetle blissfully unaware that this might be his last meal of dogbane. (Photo by Don Comis) |
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| Even mating of butterflies is exposed when Jim McCormac leads a field trip. (Photo by Don Comis) |
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| This young northern leopard frog is actually one of the bigger-sized creatures unearthed on a recent field trip. (Photo by Don Comis) |
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| The sping peeper is definitely not the smallest creature found on the July 12 wetland field trip. (Photo by Don Comis) |
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| I don't know how this moth gets any sleep, unless it was sleeping when we found it. I've photographed this same moth at about 1 in the morning in my yard! (Photo by Don Comis) |
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| The pondhawk dragonfly looks small and weak when held by Jim McCormac, but it is a big fierce hunter that kills other dragonflies when it's free. McCormac rescued this pondhawk from a spider and let it go unharmed. It did bite McCormac, though. (Photo by Don Comis) |
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| Jim McCormac points out a plant on a field trip he led for the Midwest Native Plant Society's butterfly workshop on July 12. (Photo by Don Comis) |
A butterfly workshop complete with field trips led by Jim McCormac and Jeff Belth, author of "Butterflies of Indiana", was an eye-opener for the crowd of about 150 people who came to Caesar Creek Lake in Waynesville, Ohio, to participate. The workshop was sponsored by the Midwest Native Plant Society.
We never walked far because McCormac or someone else in the group would spot an insect or a plant or a bird. McCormac showed us a baby katydid nestled in a fleabane plant, three dogbane beetles and a fuzzy white Tiger Moth caterpillar on dogbane plants--waiting to eat a dogbane beetle-- a monarch butterfly that was likely laying eggs in milkweed plants, a rare comet darner dragonfly, a white “albino” plant, a young northern leopard frog, a spring peeper, a gall on a plant harboring a gall fly grub, buttonbushes in bloom, a potter wasp, a golden digger wasp….well, you get the idea.
Of course he pointed out many different butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies and at least one day-flying moth and several birds. He enjoyed seeing a yellow-breasted chat bird [www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chat_(bird] constantly re-appear and pose for us. This was the first time I even knew this bird existed.
Besides the albino plant, he spotted another plant anomaly—foxtail sedge with both male and female plant parts. The normal sedge has separate male and female plants for reproduction.
He also heard things I would have missed, like the singing of tiny crickets, the cry of a red-shouldered hawk, and the call of a willow flycatcher bird.
Later the two wetland groups met and merged so now we had Belth with us too. And boy did that ever give us more of a peek into the hidden world outdoors. His most amazing find was the tiny egg of a butterfly, placed near the edge of a leaf blade, so small I couldn’t see it at all until one of our group loaned me a 10-power magnifying lens! Then I saw it was a beautiful little green gem ball with ribbed lines, like a watermelon several times smaller than a green pea.
Murder and Mayhem Right Under Our Noses
On the trip the leaders pointed out many scenes of violence: an aging blue darner dragon fly eating prey, a pearl crescent butterfly carried off by maybe a robber fly, and an Eastern kingbird waiting to catch dragonflies patrolling the lake for their own prey.
McCormac spotted one assault that put us in the moral dilemma of whether to interfere with Nature—he saw a pondhawk dragonfly caught in a spider web, with the spider approaching to wrap up his snack, dead or alive. We voted with McCormac so he rescued the pondhawk, holding him gently for us to take photos first. It was a fair deal and the pondhawk was now free now to wreak violence on his fellow dragonflies.
One participant told me her main interest in observing moths is to learn what goes on at night in her yard while she sleeps. We all learned more about the mayhem that is part of the wild but wonderful world out there.
Or, to paraphrase what Bleth said in his earlier talk, “I hope more people get outside and realize that there are small things out there that really do run the world.”
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