Don't forget Thomas Paine!

"Without the pen of Paine, the sword of Washington would have been wielded in vain."

― John Adams 

Though it was yesterday, happy July 4th! 

 

Here are a couple of excerpts from the President's Independence Day speech:

 

"But it all started with the miracle of history that lives forever in the heart of every single patriot in Philadelphia, our founding fathers summoned the courage of giants and the wisdom of centuries to boldly proclaim these timeless truths."

 

"Nobody can be like us. And with God's help, we will always be this or even better. We're going to be better. Here on our National Mall. We're celebrating freedom's triumph over tyranny. Liberty's conquest over oppression, and the enduring victory of the American spirit. From the July 4th, 1776 to July 4th, 2026. Big dates. That's big dates to big ones."

"Our destiny is written by God. And as we can see here tonight, after 250 years, the spirit of 1776 still lives within us all. It still roars in the hearts of our nation's capital. It still burns in the heart of every patriot, thunders through every city and town."

"And as our Declaration of Independence tells us, we are all made in the image of one Almighty God."

 

Not exactly ... instead, it says:

"the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them…"

and

"they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…"

This is Enlightenment-era political language grounded in natural law philosophy. It appeals to a general idea of a Creator and universal rights, but it is intentionally non-specific and does not articulate the distinctively Christian doctrine implied by "made in the image of God."

 

As most of you know, the Declaration was written by Thomas Jefferson, who was a Deist. Deism is a philosophical belief system that emerged during the Enlightenment in the 17th and 18th centuries. It holds that a supreme being (a "Creator" or "Grand Architect") created the universe and set the laws of nature in motion, but does not intervene in human affairs, perform miracles, or alter the natural order.

 

In any case, the founders also included this text in the Treaty of Tripoli: 

 

Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen (Muslims); and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan (Mohammedan) nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.

 

Not in any sense.

 

The text was presented by the President and ratified unanimously in 1797 by the U.S. Senate following strict constitutional procedures.

 

According to Frank Lambert, Professor of Colonial History at Purdue University:

"By their actions, the Founding Fathers made clear that their primary concern was religious freedom, not the advancement of a state religion. Individuals, not the government, would define religious faith and practice in the United States. Thus the Founders ensured that in no official sense would America be a Christian Republic. Ten years after the Constitutional Convention ended its work, the country assured the world that the United States was a secular state, and that its negotiations would adhere to the rule of law, not the dictates of the Christian faith."

So, here's a question ...

 

Who, more than any other person, inspired the people of the future United States, to seek independence from England?  

 

Let's ask Google Gemini (click on them) ...

Now chatGPT ...

And then Venice.AI ...

Thomas Paine was also a Deist who completely rejected traditional Christianity, seeing church rules and institutions as man-made inventions designed to control people. In his 1794 book, The Age of Reason, he argued that the Bible was a collection of cruel myths and folklore rather than the actual word of God, and he openly mocked core beliefs like the Trinity and the Resurrection. Instead of looking to holy books or church teachings, Paine believed that people should use basic human reason and scientific observation of nature to understand the world, viewing the beauty and order of the natural universe as the only real evidence of a creator.

 

It is almost impossible to overstate the importance of Paine's Common Sense. It wasn't just a popular booklet; it was the psychological turning point of the American Revolution. Historians generally agree that without it, the Declaration of Independence might never have happened when or how it did. 

 

And yet there was no mention in the President's speech about the significance of Thomas Paine with respect to our triumph over tyranny. 

 

Before The Age of Reason appeared in 1794, Paine was one of the most admired figures in the United States. Common Sense rallied support for independence, and many Americans regarded him as one of the leading voices of the Revolution. That reputation changed overnight after he published his attack on Christianity. Paine's criticism of the Bible alienated much of the public and some of the political leaders who had once praised him. Whether they agreed with his religious views or not, many believed his ideas threatened the moral and political stability of the new nation. As a result, Paine spent the final years of his life largely isolated, despite having championed many of the Enlightenment ideals that had influenced the American Revolution.

 

I suspect Donald Trump is more of a Cultural Christian than a true believer, using faith-based language as a deliberate, highly effective political tool.

The Modern Conservation Movement is Dead!

Now that I have your attention, I would like to discuss something that recently appeared in the news that may have fallen below your radar.

Colossal Biosciences and the US Fish and Wildlife Service have announced a partnership to build a "BioVault" to save the DNA of endangered species. While at face value this sounds like a great idea, it may ultimately do more harm to wildlife and ecosystems.

As Dr. Jerry Coyne correctly points out on his website:

"As more species face the risk of extinction, scientists see such biobanks as a critical backup. But concerns are also growing that the rise of genetic engineering and efforts to revive extinct species will erode support for on-the-ground conservation, which often requires protecting habitat from drilling, mining and other development."

Totally agree.

Firstly, make no mistake: Colossal did not 'de-extinct' the Dire Wolf — it merely modified on the order of a dozen genes to make a Gray Wolf look like one. This is a fundamental error of confusing Phenotype (outward appearance) with Genotype (what's on the inside). You cannot expect to reintroduce an animal into the wild that merely looks like something; it must be, as a complete organism, behaviorally and biologically adapted to a specific environment.

Google the Slender-tailed Dunnart (Sminthopsis murina) and the House Mouse (Mus musculus). The former is a marsupial found in Australia and the latter is a placental mammal found in many places throughout the world. While they look extremely similar, the Dunnart is a marsupial, not a placental mammal like the house mouse, and is therefore far more distantly related to mice than it is to other marsupials such as kangaroos.

Yet, you couldn't take Dunnarts, move them to North America, and expect them to survive. Despite looking almost exactly like a standard North American field mouse or deer mouse, its genotype and evolutionary history make it completely incompatible with the North American wild.

Do you really trust this administration partnering with Colossal to create a BioVault that has a very low likelihood of actually creating anything that could ever be successfully released to the wild?

I most certainly do not, and neither should you.

Ah, you say, they'll have complete DNA! True, but Colossal will likely use the BioVault to gather perfect genotypes today so they can create phenotypic proxies tomorrow. If a species in the BioVault goes extinct in the wild 15 years from now, Colossal cannot just magically clone it back into existence. To resurrect it, they would most likely have to do something similar to what they did with the fake Dire Wolf: take a closely related living surrogate species and use gene editing to incorporate portions of the extinct genome.

The idea of a DNA BioVault is laudable as an archival tool, but it must never be used as a catalyst to dismantle or replace how we conserve real, physical natural areas today.

Coyne also points out:

"Further, if Colossal is doing this for 'de-extinction' purposes, and will retain sole possession of the material, as it will do, then it is preventing other organizations or scientists from using what is 'banked.' The U.S. government has no business partnering with such an enterprise.  I don’t worry about de-extinction because that is (pardon the pun) a dead issue. But the concentration on biobanking may, as the authors note, 'erode support for on-the-ground conservation,' which mainly involves saving existing habitat and keeping humans from destroying new habitat."

You can now go about your day.

More Ghosts!

"Bugs never bug my head. They are amazing. It is the activities of humans which actually bug me all the time."

― Munia Khan

To close out June, Mark Johnson called me Saturday morning to see if I'd be interested in heading back to Sauk Rec to search for Ghost Tiger Beetles. Then after that, trek over to Spring Green Preserve for more insecting opportunities. Having no definitive plans made, it sounded like a great way to spend the day. 

We found them right away. Numbers were up a bit from last weekend, with maybe 8 to 10 individuals, though they have yet to reach seasonal peak. Sue hasn't caught up with them yet this season, so we're planning a return visit sometime early July.

Setting a proper exposure white balance can be tricky with this species. Last weekend, I left the camera on Auto, and the photos came out a tad warm. This time, I set a custom white balance, though the results still leaned slightly warm. There's also the challenge of display variability — images look different from one monitor or device to another. However, the color looks correct on my smartphone, so I think I nailed it.

This next one is freshly emerged from its burrow given all the fine sand on it ...

Presumably a male, it came out of nowhere while I was photographing a female — he attempted to mount her, but she shook him off and flew away. Anthropomorphizing, this is the rejected look. Better luck next time, pal!

Again, it's hard to know when to stop taking beetle portraits.

Punctured Tiger Beetles were present in the northwest section of the parcel, where the increased plant and lichen cover seems to be their preferred habitat over open sand. Interestingly, both species emerge around the same time during the summer tiger beetle season, following the spring emergence of other species. Because populations of Oblique-lined, Festive, and Big Sand Tiger Beetles have dramatically dwindled by this point, these summer arrivals face less competition for resources.

Three-banded Robber Fly (Stichopogon trifasciatus) with prey ...

On to Spring Green!

By the time we arrived around noon, the Prickly Pear had fully opened under midday's sun. It felt like the largest display I've ever witnessed at the site, though it's always hard to compare past years when you are completely immersed in the present beauty of the bloom.

This was a cool find ...

Mark spotted this Thread-waisted Wasp (Ammophila sp.) just as it was stuffing a large green caterpillar into its larval burrow. By the time I made it over to the spot, the main event was over, but the wasp continued to do a bit of excavation work around the opening.

When the female finds a caterpillar, she stings it precisely along its nervous system to paralyze it completely without killing it. Because the caterpillar is usually too heavy to fly with, she grips it with her large jaws and drags it across the ground back to her sand burrow. She hauls it underground, lays a single egg on it, and then steps outside to fill in the hole. 

She'll often pick up a small pebble like a tool to tamp down the sand and hide the entrance. When the egg hatches, the tiny wasp larva eats the paralyzed caterpillar from the inside out, saving the vital organs for last so the food stays alive and fresh until the larva grows up.

Efferia albibarbis with prey above, Proctacanthus hinei below ...

I recently discovered that some of the robber flies have been getting common names. P. hinei is known as the Western Red-tailed Marauder — how utterly appropriate for this beast.

Above, a fresh, completely intact Big Sand Tiger Beetle. By late June, individuals usually show some wear — such as faded elytra or damage to their limbs and antennae.

Apart from this American Copper and Banded Hairstreak, we did not observe a great deal of butterfly diversity. There were a few Monarchs and a fritillary I didn't get an ID on as it zoomed by.

Seeing the color of this Tick-Trefoil (Desmodium canadense) made me glance at my watch. It was 3:45 PM — prime time for Prairie Fame Flowers (Phemeranthus rugospermus). Would they be open? We decided to head over to Spring Green Preserve's West Unit to find out.

And ...

Yes! They are one of the most unique and elusive spectacles on the sand prairie. It's a plant that requires precise timing if you want to catch them open. First comes the short stretch of days in June they blossom. Then, individual blossoms open for only a few hours on a single afternoon, typically between 3:00 PM and 6:00 PM. By sunset, those specific flowers close forever.

This is easily one of my favorite wildflowers, tied to two distinct memories — one good, one not so much. The good memory is from when Sylvia first found them. Dottie and I genuinely thought she had hurt herself, but it turned out she was just ecstatic to have found one by the plant alone. I still don't know how she did it, because before they bloom, they are completely camouflaged by the surrounding vegetation. The bad memory involves sitting on the ground waiting for the flowers to finally open, while an ex was furious at me for taking so long. Some people get it, and some don't.

Pollinators wasted no time ...

And so that's June. 

A stretch of hot weather is locking in this week and looks likely to hold through the weekend. If the conditions get too brutal, I'll probably skip any long-distance insecting adventures. Having said that, there are some great spots right near my apartment that I can scout for a quick nature photography fix.

 See you in July!

All images © 2026 Mike McDowell

That Literacy Thing ...

"We are looking at a society increasingly dependent on machines, yet decreasingly capable of making or even using them effectively."

― Douglas Rushkoff

It's a disheartening but familiar sight on social media: a stunning photograph of a Six-spotted Tiger Beetle (Cicindela sexguttata) posted to a local photography group, immediately met with a barrage of "squash it!" and "kill it!" comments from people misidentifying it as the invasive Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis).

• Kill it!!!
• Kill it asap
• Kill it, emerald ash borer beetle
• Step on it!!!
• Not so cool beetle, damages ash trees! Squash it!
• Emerald Ash Bore.... it kills trees
• Fuk that bug! Squish that fucker
• Beautiful color, but very invasive and eats a lot of my perennials
• Tons of them in Asia
• Watch out they bite and HURTS!!!
• They're everywhere and eat everything
• Not cool! They kill my flowers every year
• Ash borer...squish it!....his buddies have killed just about every ash tree in Wisconsin

This classic case of "guilt by color" perfectly illustrates how misplaced panic can trigger an active war on beneficial native wildlife. It's a stark reminder that in the digital age, a little ecological literacy and a closer look at insect anatomy are the best defense against spreading destructive misinformation.

On the plus side, a number of people did point out that it wasn't an Emerald Ash Borer. But even when properly identified, the "kill it" comments kept coming. Well, we can't expect everyone know what these insects are, but social media has created an environment where the desire to react overrides an impulse to reflect — it's better to be first than right.

Where else do we observe this?

For the record, they don't eat plants and their bites are completely harmless (they don't hurt). In fact, the only way you'll ever experience those mandibles is if you actively pinch one in your hand. If you do, well... you sort of have it coming.

All images © 2026 Mike McDowell

A Ghost Hunt!

"Everything that happens, happens at the only possible time it can happen, and it is always at exactly the right time."

― Wu Wei

On the final day of spring 2026, I decided to visit Sauk Prairie State Recreation Area to see if Ghost Tiger Beetles (Ellipsoptera lepida) had emerged yet. Regular readers know the background: located in southeastern Sauk County between Baraboo and Sauk Prairie, this unique property sits along the southern border of Devil's Lake State Park. It covers a portion of the old 7,354-acre Badger Army Ammunition Plant, with about 3,400 acres open to the public — a massive expanse for birders and naturalists alike.

Here are my Ghost 'FOY' dates for Sauk Rec:

 

Jun 29, 2025
Jun 26, 2024
Jun 18, 2023
Jun 27, 2022
Jun 18, 2021
Jun 26, 2020

 

Since my visits are limited to weekend adventures, they're spaced a week apart, giving me just snapshots of activity. This means my Ghost Tiger Beetle first-of-year dates don't necessarily pinpoint their exact emergence day. Still, June 20th seemed plausible, especially with temperatures reaching 78 degrees and two previous records on June 18th. 

There's the spot — time look around ...

Bingo! A median emergence of June 20th fits the phenology perfectly. It's an example of how field observations shape data and why intuition might get closer to the biological truth than spreadsheet numbers alone. In southern Wisconsin, explore sand blows on a sunny day near the end of June. 

No matter how many times I encounter this species, I'm always impressed by their small size (compared to other tiger beetles) and how well they blend into their surroundings. 

Portrait time!

Since I only spotted a few Ghosts during this outing, they're likely just getting started. I plan to return in early July when their numbers should be at or near peak. By August, they'll all be gone. Once emerged, their clock ticks down quickly — the adult phase lasts only three to four weeks. Their biological imperative is to eat and find a mate before their brief time on the surface is up.

There were also several Festive Tiger Beetles ...

And Big Sand ...

Above, a Mottled Sand Grasshopper (Spharagemon collare) and a Three-banded Robber Fly (Stichopogon trifasciatus) below ...

This robber fly species often perches on stones to ambush passing prey, looking menacing as all get-out.

Hmmm ... what's that on the milkweed?

Holy smokes ... a Juniper Hairstreak!

Is it luck, experience, or both? I initially walked over to the milkweed plant just to photograph its flowers, and only then did I spot the butterfly. Well, there are cedars nearby. Truth be told, spotting a Juniper Hairstreak doesn't require some mystical, expert skill — a kid with sharp eyes could easily find one and just call it a cool green butterfly. Visual detection is really just basic pattern recognition. The part about knowing what it is comes from having spent time flipping through field guides or studying online insect sources so that when that sudden flash of green appears on milkweed, you possess the mental database to name it. It isn't magical — it's simply naturalist literacy.

Such a gorgeous insect!

 

Anyway, I got my flower photo ...

In the past, I've used the blooming of Deptford Pink (Dianthus armeria) to time the emergence of Ghost Tiger Beetles. This year, the script flipped: I found Ghosts first, which prompted me to check a nearby spot for the flower — and right on cue, there they were. It's a fascinating confirmation of local phenology. Even when the detection sequence is reversed, the correlation remains rock-solid, proving that both insect and flower are moving in lockstep with the exact same seasonal micro-climate triggers. Perhaps one beats the other by a day or two, but it certainly must be close.

All images © 2026 Mike McDowell