The Expert

"An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less until he knows absolutely everything about nothing."

― Nicholas Butler

Favored with blue skies and puffy cumulous clouds for just a single day, the haze-menace returned Tuesday afternoon. It certainly was beautiful while it lasted, but wildfires rage on and northwest winds carried particulates that have once again obscured the clarity of the sky. Wisconsin is under a shroud of smoke. You can actually monitor the skies via GOES-East. Alas, I do miss the blue skies of summer, but I keep hearing it said ... at least the sunsets are gorgeous.

I am not a professional entomologist, but I do know how to find tiger beetle habitat via Google Earth. When hiking, I am always on the lookout for appropriate habitat for not only those particular speedy insects, but really anything I can direct my macro camera setup to. You've seen them. Recently, I found a spot along the Wisconsin River that I thought might be good for tiger beetles, so I contacted the property owner and requested permission to check it out. Permission granted, I took off Tuesday for the mission.

The morning was atypically cooler than what one would expect on a summer day, but by 10:30am I began to find Bronzed Tiger Beetles at this nifty beach property. 

I do like the front-side angle. 

In short time, several Big Sand Tiger Beetles arrived on the scene. 

Though this particular location isn't that far from the Sauk City Canoe Launch, all Big Sands had more purple iridescence than those I've encountered elsewhere. The elytra were typically brown with ivory maculations, but I just love the way the thorax and head have a purplish hue. 

Here it is cleaning its antennae with its forelimbs ...

Would there be any others?

By 11:00am there were dozens of tiger beetles hunting on the beach. I was pleased to find a few Sandy Stream Tiger Beetles and captured what's probably my best-ever portrait of one:

As you may recall, I first encountered this species at the Sauk City Canoe Launch back in 2015. Several of my tiger beetle aficionado friends were pleased by my discovery, as they are fairly rare and threatened with extirpation. They're a species of special concern in Wisconsin and according to the DNR are found in only 6 of the state's 72 counties. Now I have two locations where I can find them!

To be sure, I am not an expert on tiger beetles, though I'm fairly skilled at photographing them. I have a method and it works pretty much most of the time. I have Pearson et al and the field guide has a lot of great information on tiger beetle anatomy, taxonomy, and ecology ― even a non-expert can become enamored and appreciative of these magnificent little sand demons. 

There is an expert on tiger beetles who has conducted much research on them in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the Upper Midwest, but he's something of a bitter pill. In fact, he once wrote this about me:

"I find it rather amusing that Mike blocked me and banned me from the site [Wisconsin Tiger Beetles] just because I called him out on something. I do not wish to sound arrogant, but I am the primary reason that much of anything is known about Wisconsin tiger beetles. I must admit, his actions are rather humerous [sic] and childish overall. But then I should not be at all surprised. People like him cannot accept not being the smartest person in the room."

I found this rather odd, because on a different occasion he wrote to me:

This rift actually occurred some time ago, but the subject recently came up with a friend. Maybe I'm a little catty for bringing it up now. So ... he left on his own? Or did I remove and ban him? He called me out on something? I have no idea what that might have been. He has been known to denigrate people for not using binomial Latin names for species, insects and otherwise. I recall having an online discussion with him about his disdain for birders not being scientific enough. It's rather sad because he really does know a lot and recently published a Wisconsin/Minnesota tiger beetle field guide. But I won't purchase it ― I won't reward that. As I conveyed to stated tiger beetle aficionado friend who considered purchasing his book:

Why do so?

1. We know where to find tiger beetles (all 16 species in Wisconsin).
2. We know how to photograph them pretty well.
3. We know about their anatomy, taxonomy, and ecology from Pearson et al.
4. We have considerable field observation time with the beetles. 
5. We don't need anyone to inform us how to enjoy something properly. 

Isn't that enough? What need does his field guide fill that can't be acquired elsewhere? And what if I simply want to discover these astonishing insects on my own, at my own pace, and be surprised whenever they do something unexpected or unanticipated? 

"I find it rather funny that being no doubt the Wisconsin tiger beetle expert (by far, and it is not even a remotely pompous thing to say, especially considering I 'wrote the book' and have published more scientific papers on WI tiger beetles than anyone in the state, and likely the entire Upper Midwest, for that matter) and likely one of the top entomologists and naturalists in the state, that I have been blocked and banned from every Facebook page on Wisconsin insects/nature. I guess it simply demonstrates my previous post about sociopaths and what they think of experts."

Naturally, all Wisconsin Facebook group administrators are the problem. 

Anyway, back to sharing my love of insects ...

Find suitable shoreline habitat for tiger beetles, and you're likely to encounter this flying devil-insect as well: the Three-banded Robber Fly. They're a little smaller than Bronzed Tiger Beetles, but fierce hunters of other insects and just as capable. If you look carefully, the bottom photograph shows prey in the form of a small Shoreline Wolf Spider. 

All images © 2021 Mike McDowell