A common misfortune of looking like a blood sucking mosquito. This is a micro bee fly, one of our many underrated pollinators.

It's the entomology version of RBF. Don't judge a book by its cover.
#pollinators #entomology #buglife #nature #plantnative

After a wildfire, life springs forward with such brilliance.

Ponderosa pinecones will open up due to wildfires to spread their spreads. I had never seen that before. But the vermillion was striking among the leftover coal.

#nature #trees #wildfire #ecology #littlewonders

I love being alone on a public shoreline.

Public lands allow us to share shoreline with everyone for the greater good. I am so proud of working for public lands every day to give anyone a chance at solitude. Not just those who can afford it.

#landscape #photography #nature #publiclands #forall

Find a little happy place, and watch it change. See the way it dries up and flows. It's ups and downs, love it at its best and at its worst. Love the land like we love each other. For the better of ourselves and the land.

Kettle river in Washington

#landscapes #photography #lovesick #nature

I've fallen in love over and over with trees and water, and the clarity at which they help me see.

My haven in New Mexico, Smith spring in Guadalupe mountains.

Even now in Washington among the pines and water, I meditate and think of this place.

#landscape #nature #photography #lovesick

it's been so hot and so dry, my summer flower is out in droves. Sagebrush Mariposa Lily, with a few pollinator friends relaxing inside.
Thinking about my coworkers and friends in wildfire management. I love them and wish them all their safety.

#macro #nature #wildflower #photography #pollinator

Feeling messy and sweet and ready to ruin your clothing. Mulberry is a beautiful tree with berries that drop at a touch.

On my sad days, I go foraging to sustain myself through nature. With stained hands and a full bowl, I've provided simply.

#nature #foraging #lovesick #berries #fruit #photo

Coming to the west years ago meant seeing my first paintbrush plant!

These giant red paintbrushes can vary in color. And while beautiful, they parasitize the roots of nearby plants, stealing resources to lessen its own work load.

#botany #nature #plants #macro

Found this bee mimic beetle (Trichiotinus assimilis). Another important albeit much less effective pollinator.

Beetles were likely the original pollinators, but beetle flight is clumsy when compared to bees and butterflies.

#Macro #photography #entomology #nature #pollinators #buglife

It's #pollinatorweek!

The relationship between insects and flowers is a major source of my curiosity in natural history. Flowers were only recently made for us.

Pollination in action: firefly (Photinus) with an oxeye daisy

#pollinator #buglife #nature #botany #entomology #macro

It's about perspective and the stuff we're made of. How we choose to change, and handle change.

Lake Superior continues to shape who I am. Reminds me of who I want to be.

I want to be fierce and fluid.

#nature #homesick #landscape #superior #photography

I still dream about the canyons in Carlsbad. The seeps, ridges, crevasses holding plants I had only read about growing up.

She was a sparked soulmate that was never meant to last a lifetime. I needed the water and the trees back.

#homesick #lovesick #nature #landscape #photography #deserts

World bee day has me buzzing.

My latest capture, a long horned bee (Synhalonia) on a lilac bush (not native 🙁).

Native bees like this should be our focus, as they and most other pollinators decline.

#worldbeeday #entomology #nature #macro #photography #biology #native #plantnative #pollinators

Watching flowers brings more than just pollinators.

A slender crab spider uses camouflage and color changing tactics to catch prey. Found on a lilac bush during my needed 15 minute breaks outside.

#nature #biology #macro #entomology #spiders #bugs

A sky full of stars and a forest full of woodland stars.

They're all part of the genus Lithophragma. Litho is latin for rock and phragma is Greek for fence. Why is it named rock fence, it's such a delicate spring flower. No idea.

#nature #photography #macro #botany #flowers

I believe in love at first sight because I know how I feel when I see a spring flower. A cloud in the desert, or the buzz of a bumblebee.

Every single time, my heart aches for more. And how I feel when they're gone, or when you aren't here.

#landscape #photography #poetry #lovesick #nature

Mayflies are found commonly in wet areas this time of year. They start out their life in water as a critical part of the food chain.

This is a Speckled Dun Mayfly on a piece of copper piping found during shoreline survey time.

#buglife #photography #entomology #macro #nature #biology

When I'm sad I go out and find something new to experience.

Today was a click beetle (Prosternon sp.) showing off its elytra and the unfurling of its wings before flight. Thanks buddy.

#entomology #buglife #biology #macro #photography #beetles #nature

A mourning cloak butterfly is a welcomed sight as one of the first things to take wing in spring.

There are known to be migrating populations, an uncommon trait made famous by monarch butterflies.

#entomology #nature #biology #macro #photography #buglife #butterflies

Life is contrasting, and that's a beautiful thing.

Diversity allows us to appreciate all those differences. There are more than just exceptions, there are spectrums and changes and we cannot fit them into our established lines.

#photography #biology #nature #macro #bugs #flowers #colors #life

A scene at the top of rolling hills, conifer trees dispersed in the valleys of the rolls. The foreground has bunches of large yellow flowers scattered throughout. There is a blue sky, with some scattered clouds.

Almost a year ago I took this picture in Oregon after a long, beautiful, life changing car camping trip.

Arrowleaf balsam roots are what I consider the iconic Columbia plateau flower.

To the hills: roll on Columbia, roll on.

#landscape #flowers #photography #nature #PNW

Spring brings shooting stars.

Not the wishing kind, just another beautiful flower in the genus Primula.

The back folded petals and outstretched style makes it perfect for bumblebees and other early native pollinators.

#plants #nature #landscape #wildflower #plantnative #photography

It's #FlyFriday again and I am coming at you with another pollinator fly. Hoverfly are common throughout the summer and are great first subjects for those starting out in macro or insect photography.

#nature #photography #bugs #insect #macrophotography

Spring makes me poetic.
I think it's the way the first rain drops hit my face before I slip into my sleeping bag to stay warm. Only to wake up and walk among ephemeral flowers facing the sun the next day.

#nature #photography #poetry #PNW #washington #spring

Feeling very blue today. It's raining and life can be heavy.

It's a good day to follow some butterflies. It takes all my senses to keep following them, not lose it, sneak up and get a good picture.

Have joy, look inward, be your biggest advocate when you want to put yourself down.

#nature

Even in Washington state, cacti can be found! While surveying a campground I almost knelt right in it. Better go back when it's flowering.

Brittle prickly pear cacti found in Lincoln county.

#desert #sortof #nature #washingtonstate #photography

Rodents make up the largest group of mammals. About one in four mammal species are rodents.Some horrify us, some are glorified.

But they're fun to watch when they aren't in your home! Now is the time to watch mouths get stuffed with grass and twigs for nests.

#mammals #nature #photography #spring

I get all excited once I see my first bumblebee buzz on by. All I have to do is follow it and find flowers and other bugs!

#entomology #nature #macro #photography #spring

I am a small world person, there's so many ways we can watch life change by watching the small world. Maybe if we focused on the small world (community), things wouldn't seem so out of our own hands.

#nature #macro #photography #botany #naturephotos #bryology #lichen

My vacations are spent at wildlife refuges and museums. Watching this hawk show off and stare at things I could not see brings me joy.

#nature #photography #birds #strikeapose #naturephotography