Success with Splendids!

"Happily we bask in this warm September sun, which illuminates all creatures."

— Henry David Thoreau

It's September!

August proved to be one of those months that felt both full and complicated—a blur of travel, the annoyance of an ear infection, steady demands from work, and, of course, my ongoing pursuits in Nature. Each thread pulled me in a different direction, leaving little time to catch my breath, but also leaving plenty to reflect on as summer begins its slow handoff to fall. The infection weighed on me most: because I bird primarily by ear, the sharp decline in my hearing was unsettling, and when the world suddenly grew muffled, I found myself genuinely concerned about what it might mean for my future in the field. I'll never take my hearing for granted again.

Now that things have settled down (hearing restored, too), Spring Green Preserve seemed like the natural choice to resume Nature observation and photography.

Sue and I hiked to the top of the bluff, knowing there would be plenty of poison ivy and mosquitoes through the woods on the way up the trail. The views are always worth the effort, but my main goal was to check on Splendid Tiger Beetles (Cicindela splendida), since their numbers had been exceedingly low during the spring season.

Splendids are a classic spring–fall species. Adults that overwintered emerge in spring to feed and reproduce, while fresh adults appear in August and September after completing pupa development. These late-summer beetles will dig overwintering burrows in October, to re-emerge the following spring. As I've noted before, Splendids favor the rocky outcroppings atop Spring Green's bluffs.

Though tiger beetles are usually my main quarry, I'll happily photograph whatever catches my eye—like this strikingly cool katydid.

Ah ha! Here they are ...

Though absent from the first two outcroppings, they were present in modest numbers on the large central rock formation and just below the bluff's crest. I counted a dozen or more in total—far better than the lone individual I managed to find all spring. Perhaps this suggests the population is doing just fine, and that some factor made overwintered adults scarce in April. I know of no other location in Wisconsin where this species can be reliably found. At iNaturalist.org, there's a single observation from Sussex (WI) in 1998, and also one beetle at near Boscobel (WI) in 1996. However, there are historical records placing them in a dozen counties in southern Wisconsin, mostly to the west.

Since spring offered no real chance at portraits of this species, I suppose I indulged a bit once the opportunity finally came. My favorite is meeting them face to face as they patrol the edges of the outcroppings—utterly adorable! They were very cooperative and accommodating. 

Blazing star! All over the prairie.

With another month of tiger beetling still to enjoy, the pull of fall migration may interrupt now and then. My autumn birding has mellowed over the years, mostly focused on sparrows by late September. I let a few warblers pass me by in spring, but I no longer feel the old urge to chase them down.

All images © 2025 Mike McDowell

Really quick update ...

 I'm cured (ears).

Nature post coming!

Migration!

Here's the deal ...

There probably won't be many nature posts for a little while as I recover from a fungal ear infection. That's right — it wasn't bacterial after all. It took two unsuccessful rounds of antibiotics and finally a culture to get to the bottom of it.

On Tuesday I was able to get into UW ENT, where they cleaned the fungus out of my ear canals and started treatment with an antifungal powder-spray. I was told to keep my ears dry for two weeks until my follow-up, when they'll check again and retreat if there's any regrowth.

Gross.

With the humidity as high as it's been, I don't want to risk compromising the treatment, so I'll probably stay indoors this weekend and give healing the best chance. Hopefully it won't be long before I'm back outside with my binoculars and camera.

Gear image © 2025 Mike McDowell

Dumb Paper!

"I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned."

—  Richard Feynman 

This is an embarrassment — a creationist paper published in a somewhat respectable science journal:

"Calculated probabilities for the origin of life are absurdly improbable even when highly favorable assumptions are made. This agrees with the use of 'absurd' for probability statements by Eigen (Eigen) and that Wald (1954) found it necessary to use 'miracles' to justify his use of 'impossible becomes possible'. The origin of life and its evolution cannot be 'explained' by a near-infinite sequence of minute changes given direction via selection by survival of the fittest."

This is yet another example of a common creationist tactic: smuggling the demands of abiogenesis into the discussion of evolution, then declaring evolution disproven because the origin of life remains under investigation.

Just ... no. 

In probability terms, an event with a very low chance per trial can become almost certain if you have enough trials and enough time. Abiogenesis skeptics often treat it as if life had one "roll of the dice," when in reality the early Earth had billions of years, countless chemical environments, and unthinkably large numbers of molecular interactions happening simultaneously.

Not only that, the authors commit the fallacy of the argument from incredulity. 

As University of Chicago biologist Jerry Coyne wrote: 

"Now creationists have always preyed on ignorance, with their method often being the claim 'We don’t understand how X evolved via evolutionary processes, ergo Darwinism is wrong and creationism must be right.' But time after time, as we’ve seen in cases like the bacterial flagellum that made creationist biologist Michael Behe infamous, evolutionists have been able to find viable precursors to features or organisms once thought impossible to have evolved (here’s one for the flagellum)."

Instead of saying, "We don't yet know, so let's keep looking," they jump to, "We don't know, therefore we do know" — and then fill in the blank with whatever answer they wanted all along.

That's just sloppy thinking, bereft of critical thought and real scientific pursuit. 

Many people confuse Darwin's theory of Natural Selection with how life actually began, and some do it on purpose. They're not the same thing. Natural selection by descent with modification explains how living things change over time once they already exist. Abiogenesis is about how life got started in the first place — how lifeless chemicals somehow assembled into the first living cells. Darwin never claimed to know that part. His work starts after life appears, charting how it adapts, branches, and survives.

Abiogenesis is its own game entirely. It's about the chemistry, physics, and chance events that may have turned simple molecules into something that could reproduce and evolve. Think RNA world ideas, Miller–Urey spark experiments, and the mess of conditions on early Earth. Evolution steps in only once you have a living thing to work with. They meet at the threshold of life's first appearance, but they're not the same process, and knowing one doesn't mean you know the other.

Yet some critics, especially creationists, love to blur the two together so they can knock them both over in one lazy swing. It’s like saying the history of Rome is false because we don’t know who hammered the first nail into the first hut. The fact that abiogenesis is still being unraveled doesn't erase the mountains of evidence for biological evolution. Both are worth studying, but they answer different questions — and lumping them together is deliberate misdirection.

But a "miracle"? 

No — keep searching ...

Gun Stuff

"Let's be objective about this; guns aren't the real problem, the real problem is bullets. If I'm elected, I'll see there are plenty of guns for everybody, but we'll lock up all the bullets."

― Pat Paulsen

Recently, we held our Milestone event at Vortex Optics to honor employees with five or more years of service. Although my official anniversary isn't until next month, I was recognized for 25 years at the event. It's been quite a journey—from starting with Eagle Optics, which mainly served birders and overlapped with Vortex, to transitioning fully to Vortex after Eagle Optics closed at the end of 2017. What a long, strange trip it's been.

As longtime readers know, this transition required me to become familiar with firearm optics—and firearms themselves. Shooting wasn't entirely new to me; I took Hunter's Safety in middle school, and in high school (Wausau, WI) we had a two-semester marksmanship course that counted as physical education credits. Naturally, it doesn't exist today. At first, I went a bit overboard collecting guns, but eventually I sold more than half and decided to keep only the following:

From top to bottom:

• Vudoo .22 LR in MPA Chassis, Venom 5-25x56 FFP
• Tikka 6.5 Creedmoor in MDT Chassis, Razor HD II 4.5-27x56 FFP
• Winchester Model 70 6.5 Creedmoor, Viper HD 2-10x42 BDC
• Daniel Defense DDM4 V7 5.56, Razor AMG UH-1 + Micro 3x
• Glock 43x, sometimes running Defender CCW 6 MOA.

At work, we have a Range Certification Program where we test customers' optics on firearms to ensure they're functioning correctly. When an optic comes in for warranty with reported issues, our Repair Team first evaluates it. If they determine the optic is working properly, the Consumer Sales team—where I work—contacts the customer to offer a range certification. Most customers decline and accept our initial findings, so the optic is returned to them.

If the customer opts for a range certification, we select an appropriate firearm and test the optic on our indoor ranges, which offer distances of 25, 50, and 100 yards. When I need to range certify a red dot or LPVO (low-power variable optic), I typically use the 50-yard range with my Daniel Defense AR-15.

For higher-power scopes, it's off to our 100-yard range.

We have a Tikka Super Varmint in 300 Win Mag that I like to test scopes with.

The goal is test to see if an optic is holding zero and achieve the smallest possible groups—ideally at least sub-MOA (minute of angle), though I aim for around sub-quarter MOA. For those unfamiliar, 1 MOA is nearly equal to 1 inch at 100 yards. "Holding zero" means that after you've properly mounted and sighted in a firearm or optic, it continues to shoot accurately over time without the point of impact shifting. Essentially, the firearm consistently hits where you aim, even after repeated use or being carried around. This reliability is important because if a gun doesn't hold zero, your shots can start to stray off target, making accuracy unpredictable and less effective.

After a few 3-shot groups like this, I'm confident this customer's scope is truly holding zero. Whether they're a hunter, law enforcement officer, military member, or competitive shooter, it's reassuring for them to see independent results confirming their optic's reliability.

I haven't fired my Tikka since I got the suppressor for it in 2023. I occasionally use my Vudoo for 50-yard target practice to keep my marksmanship skills sharp. I haven't yet taken the Winchester to the range—it was a gift from Vortex for my 25th anniversary. While I'm proficient with my Glock, I only shoot it occasionally to stay practiced. Mostly, I use these firearms for work. I'm not a hunter, but I'm open to trying it someday. For most of it, my firearms are pretty much used only for work. As for competitive shooting, I gave it a few tries but decided it really wasn't my cup of tea. The friendly events at work were enjoyable, but the competitions outside of work just weren't my scene.

I realize some readers might be surprised, shocked, or disappointed by this, but it's my livelihood. Honestly, it's far better than working at an insurance company that was only interested in collecting premiums—they even refused to cover my brother's loans when he was diagnosed with cancer and passed away just months later, citing it as a pre-existing condition. Total snakes. Fortunately, my family took them to court—and won. Not long after that, I left CUNA Mutual and moved on—first to Wingra Technologies (email software) for a year, then to Eagle and Vortex Optics, where I've been ever since.

All images © 2025 Mike McDowell

A Smoky Start to August!

"I have only made this letter longer because I have not had the time to make it shorter."

― Blaise Pascal

It's been a smoky August so far, thanks to the lingering haze from the Canadian wildfires. I've been dragging a bit, battling a surprise double ear infection (what the heck?), but still managed to get out on Saturday. That said, the mid-summer tiger beetle lull seems more pronounced this year. There were none at the Sauk Canoe Launch and only three along the Wisconsin River near Vintage Brewing Company.

Here's one of two Bronzed found:

And just a single Hairy-necked (note the tiny grasshopper lower-right):

I know there are lots of Punctured Tiger Beetles out at different habitats right now, but I was a little surprised how few beetles there are along the river. The sandbars and shorelines are usually reliable even during the slower weeks of summer, so the drop-off kind of stood out. The second emergence will soon begin and I hope there are more Splendid Tiger Beetles than I found during spring. 

Ironweed and Obedient Plant were in bloom along the shoreline, adding a splash of color to the otherwise muted landscape. Even with the haze, the purples stood out vividly against the late-summer greens.

This is a more abbreviated blog post, as I didn't spend as much time out in Nature as I would've liked. Between the lingering smoky haze and my double ear infection, I definitely felt my energy level take a hit. Still, it was good to get out, even if only briefly.

Birddigiscoper Domain Status:

Turns out my domain got hacked, with lots of files deleted or altered—including scripts. To fix it, I ended up deleting the entire public_html directory and uploading a backup. While some older blog images might still be missing, I believe I restored over 90% of the content. For now, I've set up a simple redirect index.html that points to this blog. Unfortunately, BlueHost offered zero help unless I paid extra for malware removal and backup restoration—services I think should be included in basic domain-hosting fees. I'm still unsure if I'll keep the domain long-term.

All images © 2025 Mike McDowell

Westward Color!

"We need the tonic of wildness...At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature."

― Henry David Thoreau

What a jungle! I love it.

Despite the oppressive heat, Sue and I visited a few natural areas on Sunday to search for some target species. First up, Sue hadn't yet seen the Yellow-crowned Night Heron at Middleton Hills Pond, so we quickly located it within minutes using our birding habitat 'sleuthing' skills. 

The second species I aimed to find was the Gnat Ogre, a member of the Holcocephala genus.

Easy! It didn't take long to find them in the exact same spot as years past. 

Using a monopod with my macro rig is essential to get these close-up images.

It's a robber fly, but super small. These compact hunters usually perch high on vegetation, scanning for small flying insects to ambush mid-air. Despite their size—often just a few millimeters long—they're relentless, grabbing prey with spiny legs and injecting enzymes to liquefy it from the inside out. A fascinating example of efficient, aerial predation on a micro scale.

Nearby, there were also some hopper insects. That's Northern Flatid Planthopper (Flatormenis proxima) and Citrus Flatid Planthopper (Metcalfa pruinosa) below.

Up next, Juniper Hairstreaks (Callophrys gryneus) near Black Earth! I haven't seen this species since 2018.

At the Arena Boat Landing sandbars there were Hairy-necked, Sandy Stream, and Bronzed Tiger Beetles. 

Out of curiosity, we wanted to see how hot it was at Spring Green Preserve.

The Poppy Mallow were open ...

And I scored a good photo of a Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia). We didn't stay long, as it was hotter than we both anticipated and we didn't have much water left. All in all, a great day of being out in Nature despite the sweltering weather!

Hmm ... do you think I look like a Boy Scout?

Most images © 2025 Mike McDowell