In June and early July, walk along a slow-moving shallow stream or creek in any woodlands, even very small ones, and you might spot what looks like a black butterfly flittering near the water or among vegetation.
A closer look reveals an iridescent insect with a metallic green or black body and deep black wings. It’s the ebony jewelwing, a type of damselfly. The female is just as lovely, though a bit duller, and sports a white spot near the tip of each wing.
Ebony jewelwings might sound like mythical creatures hiding in the woods, but they really are quite easy to find, even for the casual nature observer, and the best time to see them is in June.
This June, I found ebony jewelwings, male and female, cavorting along Buffalo Creek at a little park in Long Grove. Another June, I stood on a bridge and peered into a creek with gently flowing water and spotted two males at Reed Turner Woodland in Long Grove.
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I’ve seen them along Indian Creek in Mundelein and many other places close to home. Just the other day, a female landed on a patch of grass next to a vegetated creek.
Damselflies are the smaller counterparts of dragonflies. They fold their wings when perched, while dragonflies hold them outward. Dragonfly eyes appear to be touching, while damselfly eyes are farther apart. Damselflies don’t fly as well as dragonflies and often remain close to vegetation near the water’s edge.
Jewelwings are fun to watch because they gather in small groups, maybe four or five clinging to leaves above the water and showing off their colors.
The adult jewelwing damselfly emerges at about the end of May, disappearing in mid-summer, replaced by other damselfly and dragonfly species.
Adults only live for a few weeks after spending months as larvae and nymphs beneath the water, where they feast on mosquito larvae and other aquatic delights. These creatures emerge as adults just in time to eat adult mosquitoes and many other insects, including other dragonflies and damselflies.
Another June scene I enjoy is the busy life of purple martins. In June, at the edge of Lake Defiance in Moraine Hills State Park in McHenry County near a boat launch, you can hear the chortling, conversational, telltale call of purple martins during this month.
They are raising young in manmade houses erected close to water. The martins are noisy, gregarious and acrobatic in flight as they catch insects, including moths, bees, and yes, dragonflies. In the right light, the deep purple-blue of the males can look remarkably similar to the same color of the ebony jewelwings. Female martins are brownish with dark purplish caps.
In June, the martins are sitting on nests of feathers and grass inside the manmade houses with the right-sized holes for them to enter. Soon, the eggs will hatch, and then both adults feed the young until they are ready to fly.
Purple martins once found plenty of natural cavities in which to nest, such as tree hollows, old woodpecker holes and crevices. But house sparrows and European starlings, introduced from Europe a century or more ago, took over their nesting sites. That’s why humans began erecting martin houses.
It’s a lot of work to take care of them, and this year it seems as if some of the houses are not occupied by as many individuals as I’ve seen in the past.
Some places to observe and listen to the martins include Old School Forest Preserve and Independence Grove Forest Preserve, both near Libertyville.
As amazing as the jewelwings are regarding their lifecycles, so too are the martins, which travel thousands of miles from South America to nest in the United States in spring.
Listening to the calls of purple martins, I close my eyes and envision them in flight at dark using the rotation of the stars, Earth’s magnetic field and other cues to get to their summer homes. June is the month to celebrate the end of their long journey and the chance to watch their busy lives of raising young.
Sheryl DeVore has worked as a full-time and freelance reporter, editor and photographer for the baiduhai and its subsidiaries. She’s the author of several books on nature and the environment, and co-author of a coming book on “Birds of the Midwest,” to be published by Timber Press in 2027. Send story ideas and thoughts to [email protected].