Aquatic Insects with a Focus on the Value of Midges to Migrating Birds
By Bob Haack

Bob is a retired U.S. Forest Service Insect Specialist (Research Entomologist), who worked for the USFS for over 30 years.

There are over 2000 species of insects in Michigan that spend all or part of their life cycle in our lakes, rivers, and ponds. These include all the mayflies, caddisflies, dragonflies and many more.

Adult midges look like mosquitoes, but they do not bite. Some of the first adult insects to become active in spring are midges. Midges are a very important part of the diet for many migratory birds in spring, usually comprising over 50% of their diet.

Adult midges concentrate on shoreline vegetation after emergence, and as a result many migrating birds are also found in high numbers along shorelines.

This talk will cover many groups of aquatic insects and discuss interesting aspects of their life histories but will focus on the importance of midges to migrating birds.

Of interest is Bob's USDA-FS employee page https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/about/people/haack  

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Raffle and Treats follow the Free Program

All our Straits Area Audubon programs are on the second Wednesday of the month and are in person at the Cheboygan Library, 100 S. Bailey St., starting at 6:00 pm.

We need members to bring in treats for the audience. Please help when you can.

May 8 - "Keeping A Vivarium"
By Eowyn Bates

Eowyn Bates is an SAAS Resident Naturalist

A vivarium is an enclosure meant to keep plants and animals in as close to natural an environment as can be provided. Aquariums and terrariums are all examples of this.

But how easy is it to keep a vivarium? And how much biodiversity can one support? In the search for an answer, we will go over the journey of one large tank and its inhabitants, and talk about the journey it has gone through in its over one year long lifespan.

This talk will cover living organisms present in soil including bacteria, fungi, algae, protozoa, and a wide variety of larger soil fauna including springtails, mites, nematodes, earthworms, ants, and insects that spend all or part of their life underground, even larger organisms such as burrowing rodents.