"Seeing the mud around a lotus is pessimism, seeing a lotus in the mud is optimism."
― Amit Kalantri
― Amit Kalantri
No Sandy Stream Tiger Beetles were found during my weekend survey in Sauk and Arena. Though later than their typical emergence window, my historical records show they can still be found well into August.
Moderate drought has brought the Wisconsin River low enough to expose a network of extensive sandbars—reminiscent of a summer just over a decade ago, though with far fewer tiger beetles around on this day. While this could still be the typical mid-season lull, I'm beginning to wonder if the spring flooding is the cause for their exceedingly low numbers.
Hmm ... how far I can hike via sandbar hopping?
A stretch of beach ...
In all my searching I found just a single Bronzed Tiger Beetle, but there was at least another subject of interest: Shoreline Wolf Spiders (Arctosa littoralis) ...
Their camouflage is superb. They standout a little more when sunlight is on them by creating a contrasting shadow, but look what happens when clouds block the light ...
I mean, is that impressive or what?
I was on the fence about heading to Arena. It's better known and weekend sandbars on hot days are guaranteed to be packed with Muggles, complete with loud music, pets, and cookouts—a bit too much of a party scene for my taste. Still, people often get curious about what I'm doing, which can create opportunities to share a little entomology.
Despite beachgoers scattered about, I completed a loop around the main sandbar. Like at Sauk, Bronzed were scarce—only two sighted—but I encountered around a dozen Hairy-necked Tiger Beetles working the damp sand. I spent an hour trailing them with my camera, though their skittish, hyper-vigilant nature made close-range portraiture exceedingly challenging.
This is the part where I might appear to be entirely unhinged to onlookers—walking in slow motion toward empty sand, crouching, standing, crawling on all fours, and throwing my arms up in pure frustration before starting process all over again. Though nobody asked on this day, every so often someone comes up to me and asks "What are you doing?"
Me: "I'm photographing a tiger beetle!"
Them: "A what?"
Naturally, the beetles kept to the water's edge, where the saturated sand had a sour, swampy funk to it—that classic smell of dead algae and marsh muck decaying under the mud. Pursuing them down in the mire meant I finished the day completely drenched, muddy, and smelling like the bottom of a riverbed.
Such fun!
All images © 2026 Mike McDowell