Water Beetle Sighting

[Peter Clausen]

After all this discussion about water beetles, I was REALLY excited to see my first local water beetle of the year (and maybe my last as I've never seen one here before). I was in my backyard setting up a badminton net for the kids (amazingly, it's going to reach 90 some degrees tomorrow). I've always got my bug eyes on and saw the unmistakeable shape of a beetle on a blade of grass. I got closer and was so happy to have found a water beetle in my own backyard. We have a lot of dragonflies cruising through here in the summertime. The closest creek is about 3 blocks away. The closest river is about 3 miles. Some of my neighbors have water features too.

 

Well, I snatched that water beetle up and was showing it to my son. Then the darned little thing bit me. I mean it went face down, butt up and even though I hardly felt it I reacted instinctively and shook my hand. It went sailing into the grass and I looked for a ridiculously long time but couldn't find it. I only got a semi-decent look at it. About a centimeter long and black with some brown markings. I'm totally bummed that I didn't get my first water beetle and I had it in my hand!