???? Insect Hunting in January in Michigan ????

We had the pleasure of working with the Huron River Watershed Council today searching for Stonefly nymphs in the local area rivers. BURRRR!!!!

When you ask B what he wants to be when he grows up his answer always varies, but it never had anything to do with field work. And for the life of me I have no earthly idea why?! He LOVES field work like this. And he must since he was eager to go out in mid 20s weather, in the snow to search for stonefly nymph in local waters. (thankfully the sun was out and there was no wind, so we didn't get cold)

Yes, you've read right. We were searching for insect larva, in Michigan, in January!!! And the reason for the timing??? Well the elusive, underwater Winter Stoneflies cannot be found during most of the year; they come to life only during the winter months when most fish are too sluggish to eat them.

This is actually a long term study that is done in Livingston, Oakland, Washtenaw and Wayne counties. And the reason for this??? These aquatic insects, by their sensitivity to environmental conditions, tell us about problems in the river and its streams. Stoneflies are great biological indicators!

We worked with a team, which consisted of Ken (our wader/collector), M (the scribe and data recorder), Tori, B and W (all tray pickers). The process included:

1) Ken would get a water sample, that was later tested for pollutants,
2) Ken could use a catch net and scrap along the bottom with his boot and net the disbruis he stirred up, 3) Ken would empty the contents of his net into white trays,

4) then those of us not in the river would pick through the trays for specimens,
5) we could collect the stoneflies and put them in vials,

6) then number of samples, presents of stoneflies, time in river, etc were all recorded onto the data sheets. At the end of our collection (at 2 different river sites), all the equipment, data, and specimens were returned to the office.

Even though we were only searching for stonefly, we couldn't help but notice the other macroinvertibrates present, like mayfly nymph and caddisfly nymph. And before we left for our collection sites we were told to actually look for the adult insects on the banks covered with snow. Unfortunately, neither of our sites had any adults present! But B does have one in his collection and that specimen is shown below.

We are hoping to do a few more activites with the HRWC in the future. It's a great organization and they welcome children participating, which is great for us!