Quest for the Star-nosed Mole BioBlitz Report

More than 750 species of larger life forms: slime molds to fungi, plants, invertebrates from planaria to insects, and vertebrates from fish to birds and mammals were documented at the Natural Land Institute’s Silver Creek Woods Preserve during its bioblitz on June 19 and 20, 2026.

Besides a prior fish survey in Silver (Rock) Creek, little inventory of the site’s life had been conducted. The land was owned and protected by the Natural Land Institute’s (NLI) founder George Fell and his wife Barbara long before it became an NLI preserve – their notes mention the Star-nosed Mole!

The site is named after the meandering Silver Creek which flows, un-dredged and un-tiled through the preserve. The prior fish and macroinvertebrate survey in 2019 revealed state endangered Mottled Sculpins. Our bioblitz found stoneflies which are the indicator of high water quality streams. We did not have a fish specialist to shock and relocate the sculpins during the blitz but they are certainly still present.

The meandering creek flows through a low floodplain wetland, largely now infested by invasive reed canary grass (RCG) but with intermittent good stands of native plant species and a rather open woodland. It is here, in these wet areas that the mole tunnel runs we have observed are likely made by the event’s mascot: Star-nosed mole (they are subterranean and aquatic mammals). We did not find the mole during the event but will continue our non-lethal surveying to document this species. Yes, we could set a mole trap in one of the runs but that would be against what we stand for. The common Eastern Mole was also missed on the survey though its runs were noticed in the upland woods both before and after the event!  Sneaky subterranean diggers that they are – they eat mostly worms, insects and other invertebrates (not plant roots) and help aerate soils.

The low grassy habitat along the creek also revealed a Meadow Jumping Mouse which have become quite rare – this was the 5th i-Nat record for Winnebago County. The mouse was captured, photographed professionally by David Olson and released right where it was first captured. These mice have a bit of “kangaroo” in them with long hind legs and an amazingly long tail which counterbalances their long-jump hopping abilities.

The site’s old growth, original block of woods has had some recent restoration work (removal of invasive shrubs with some tree seedling planting) but otherwise has not been “messed” with in many decades. There were some very special finds, foremost the Indiana Bat which is Federally Endangered and requires open, old growth woodlands for its summer habitat. A special fern, Silvery Spleenwort, was also documented and is another key indicator of rich, undisturbed forests – it has a conservation coefficient of 10. Plants with that number (the highest) are found only in undisturbed natural lands.

Fungi are an important part of our biodiversity and we were happy to have an amateur mycologist, Ben King, out surveying those for us. He found moss rust which is quite rare – and even a fungus that attacks caterpillars – he showed me the mummified caterpillar with the fungus protruding from it.  I found Wrinkled Peach Mushroom which Ben told me is also uncommon.  He found the aptly named Crown-tipped Coral Fungus which does look a lot like it belongs in a coral reef!  The species count for fungi totaled 55.

Reading a list of the recorded life is also quite entertaining – the common names of so many animals, especially insects, are quite amusing and spurring one’s imagination into what they look like. Both Woodland and Shaded Fuzzy Ants were photographed, then there was the butterfly the American Snout, Meadow Spiddlebug, Whiplash Beetles, Dancing Kiss Fly, Long-tailed Dance Fly, and the damselfly: Springwater Dancer that is really quite rare! The name that stood out most to me was Carnival Candy Slime Mold – I gotta see a picture of that one! When it comes to Latin names our jumping mouse is known as Zapus hudsonius and most are surprised to know our beloved American Robin has the Latin name of Turdus migratorius.

So, from living jewels like the aptly named Emerald Jewelwing (a damselfly), Dogbane Beetle and Six-spotted Tiger Beetle (all stunning and iridescent, looking right out of the rain forest) to dull and cryptic like Eastern Wood-Pewees and Willow Flycatchers we now have a better grasp of what lives at Silver Creek Woods Preserve. It will help guide us in managing the property to make sure the habitat for this diverse bunch remains and is stewarded properly. Finding the pawpaw grove on the site in 2022 was a surprise and an accident – Stewardship staff didn’t know this normally more southerly understory tree was present and killed the oldest tree in a prescribed fire (it has since spread into an even bigger thicket). I like Aldo Leopold’s quote: The first part of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts” so we must respect all these “parts” if we are to conserve the land – we know they are all a part of a complex food web that works together to maintain the health of the land.