Good morning.
Saturday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 70. Sunrise is 5:24 and sunset is 8:19 for 14 hours 55 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 51.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1949, the Basic Law establishing a new German state, the Federal Republic of Germany, comes into effect.
Wisconsin has, by state law, adopted several animals and symbols, among them the honey bee (Apis mellifera) as the state insect. There’s a movement to designate the Hine’s emerald dragonfly (Somatochlora hineana) as the state insect either in addition to, or instead of, the honey bee:
An effort to dethrone the honey bee as Wisconsin’s official state insect may be gaining ground. A campaign by the Wisconsin Dragonfly Society to put a rare, native dragonfly in its place got support in the Wisconsin Conservation Congress survey last month.
The Hine’s emerald dragonfly was believed to be extinct for decades. But it was rediscovered in Door County in 1987. Today, The Ridges Sanctuary in Baileys Harbor is a rare habitat for the endangered species and wildlife experts there are making the case for the species to get statewide recognition.
Tony Kiszonas, director of research at The Ridges Sanctuary, told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” that the effort to get the species declared as the state insect of Wisconsin could help educate people about the species and the natural habitat it lives in.
The Hine’s emerald dragonfly species was named in 1931, two years after being categorized as a distinct species. Its range included Wisconsin and other Midwestern states. By the 1950s, it was believed to be extinct. Almost 40 years after its rediscovery, it remains a federally endangered species.
See Rob Ferrett, ‘Beautiful Emerald Eyes’: Wisconsin nature preserve promotes a dragonfly as state insect (‘Once thought extinct, the Hine’s emerald dragonfly has a niche in Door County’), Wisconsin Public Radio, May 15, 2026. See also Emily Mills, Rare Dragonfly Gets a Helping Hand, The Nature Conservancy, August 31, 2022.
I’ll not suggest that the Hine’s emerald should replace (rather than merely augment) the honey bee as a state insect, lest fanatical honey bee aficionados rampage through this community.
It does seem right, however, that Wisconsin should consider for a state insect a dragonfly species that is now endangered, is of our region, and requires the wetlands that are characteristic of our state’s natural beauty.
And, well, yes, those are beautiful emerald eyes.
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Upcoming posts (in no decided order): A Whitewater Comparative Analysis, Whitewater’s Workforce, and Outcome-Driven Argumentation.
Meet the hospital dogs that provide full-time care for young sick patients: