Post by Jen Berlinghof
Late spring and early summer are busy seasons for children visiting the Lake County Forest Preserves for pond study programs. The shorelines of ponds pulse with the excitement of students, nets in hand, ready to discover the macroinvertebrates teeming under the water’s surface. The most delightful find this season by students has to be what Henry David Thoreau once called the “submarine cottages” of caddisfly larvae.
Last week while visiting Lyons Woods, I noticed that a large patch of garlic mustard was quivering. When I got closer, I found that it was not the breeze making the plants sway, but rather a huge group of red admiral butterflies (Vanessa atalanta) flitting from flower to flower. In many areas, all you have to do is walk out your front door to witness the population explosion of these ubiquitous butterflies that is sweeping the northeastern United States this spring.
Lake County Nature 