Unido: 28.abr.2018 Última actividad: 11.oct.2024 iNaturalist
I am a retired engineer and have a masters in biomedical engineering but spent most of my career in aerospace developing hardware, firmware, large computer systems and satellites. I have always been interested in ecology and nature. As kids, my cousin and I put up bluebird boxes in our yards and brought bluebirds back to our neighborhood. I was also the 4-H State Entomology Champion in 1965. After retirement I took some environmental science classes at our local community college. In my previous home, where I lived until 2021, I removed all the grass in the front yard and it is now covered in California poppies and a few other plants for pollinators. I also have several bird boxes for wrens, chickadees and bluebirds (although I have yet to get any bluebirds, I do see them occasionally on the old elderberry tree in my back yard).
In October 2021 I moved to Lincoln CA where there are some nature preserves close to my house. I started attempting to document the amazing biodiversity on these fields, ponds and creeks. I would like to make either an iNat page or a website where I can make these easily available to the public.
In August 2023 I was walking through a patch of Turkey Mullein and I noticed the amazing number of insects on and about these plants, so I started narrowing my focus to these. I have found some organisms which I cannot identify as they do not fit the normal "insect" form. Nature is interesting and educational.
My photos are taken with a Panasonic LUMIX DMC-FZ60 camera. This is a very useful camera for field work because it is lightweight and fairly small, has a 12 megapixel resolution and its built in lense provides macro, macro zoom and up to 24x regular zoom and 96x with electronic zoom. I recently bought a Raynor 1.5x macro lense. I also have several microscopes and I am continuing to hone my photography skills.