Gift Ideas for the Holidays and Beyond

Here at Bug Eric blog, we like to promote excellence and encourage innovation, inclusion, equality, and diversity in the professions of entomology, science communication, citizen science, research, and biodiversity education. To that end, you may wish to bookmark this post for reference at any time of the year.

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Make a Difference

The voices of non-Caucasian scientists have too often been absent, or outright silenced in publications, at conferences, and elsewhere. This must change. It is without hesitation that I suggest making donations to Entomologists of Color. Consider taking the next step and inviting a featured “scientist of the month” to address your organization, classroom, or citizen scientist group. Black in Ento is another avenue to sponsor and support Black entomologists. Both initiatives enjoy the support of professional societies and organizations.

© SpiderdayNightLive.com

The leading global invertebrate conservation organization continues to be the Xerces Society, and they keep getting better. An annual membership gets you many benefits, not the least of which is the stellar journal Wings. What began with an emphasis on butterflies has now blossomed into advocating for every taxon.

Reward Good Work

There is no shortage of ambitious and important citizen scientist initiatives and platforms. Please donate to the ones that serve you best. As for individuals doing vital work in entomology, few compare to The Bug Chicks, Kristie Reddick and Jessica Honaker. They are leaders in science communication, curriculum development, professional development, entomology consulting, and media production. They will debut some “bug dork” merchandise soon to help fund their ever-growing business.

© TheBugChicks.com

Aussie friends, you have a fierce advocate for your native bees in Dr. Kit Prendergast, the Bee Babette. She has published a booklet about Creating a Haven for Native Bees that is applicable virtually everywhere, not just Australia. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook for more of her accomplishments.

Dr. Kit Prendergast, © Researchgate.net

My good friend Nancy Miorelli is based in Ecuador where she runs tours that benefit local and indigenous people. She also has a Youtube channel, is “queen” of the “SciHive” on Facebook, and has a sustainable jewelry-making business. All of this falls under her SciBugs banner. Did I mention she is a talented artist?

Dr. Stephanie Dole © BeetleLady.com

Those of you in California, USA, will want to book the new Bug Pop-up Museum created by the “Beetle Lady,” Dr. Stephanie Dole. Not in California? No problem, she also does virtual classes. I know Stephanie, Nancy, and The Bug Chicks personally and can attest to the quality of their enterprises.

”Merch”

You want something tangible? Check out some of the books I have reviewed this year. Patronize your local booksellers, toy stores that emphasize science and learning, and museums, zoos, and aquaria. There are locally-owned outdoor stores selling gently used gear for hiking and camping to get you out into the wilderness, even if that is simply your own back yard or the grandparents’ farm.

Speaking of gear….Idea Wild furnishes equipment to indigenous and local scientists in countries all over the globe, enabling underfunded scholars to do important conservation research work. Idea Wild is over thirty years old, with many success stories under their belt.

Thank you for taking the time to read the above. Please let me know of other worthy endeavors that I can promote here. Happy holidays!

This Girl!

One sure-fire way to make me smile is by introducing me to any young person who is passionate about something. It matters little to me exactly what the subject of their fascination is, but that they are enthusiastic and eager to share what they know. Young people energize elders who have expertise but have become lethargic and cynical of the future in their fields of authority. Meanwhile, children learn even more from those willing to mentor them.

Earlier this month I had the occasion to meet Miss Abigail Nilson-Bartlett, brought to a membership meeting of the Mile High Bug Club by her dad, Ryan, on February 12. They travelled to and from a Denver suburb to our Colorado Springs meeting location. I am not sure who was happier they did: Me or them.

Abigail, at seven years old, firmly asserts that "I am an arachnologist," and I believe her. She can pronounce the word, and then back it up with information that is not widespread knowledge for anyone outside of arachnology. She keeps a couple of pet tarantulas at home, caring for them judiciously such that they are comfortable and healthy, and handled only occasionally. In fact, she wants people to know that "I have a caring for bugs. When they are hurt I care of them well until they are healed. I am a bug doctor and try to help when I can." Her favorite non-spider arthropod is the "rainbow stag beetle."

She considers her greatest accomplishment so far to be assisting her father in a search for wild tarantulas in southeast Colorado. She met Dr. Paula Cushing, one of the premier professional arachnologists in the world, when she accompanied Ryan to volunteer at the twentieth International Congress of Arachnology that was held in Golden, Colorado in 2016. Dr. Cushing is a tough act to follow, but at least I could provide Abigail with a signed copy of my field guide.

During the course of our Mile High Bug Club meeting I made a presentation entitled "Wasp/Not Wasp," an interactive PowerPoint in which the audience is invited to determine which of two images depicts a wasp. Most slides were of a wasp and a complimentary "mimic" like a fly or a moth, but some displayed two wasps, or two mimics. Abigail participated with great enthusiasm, and was often correct in her answers. After listening to me explain the "nth" example of some wasp or mimic that preys on spiders, she asked why it is that there are so many insects that kill her beloved spiders. I can totally empathize. I often ask that about crocodiles and mantids that are shown over-and-over in the media eating some animal I like a lot more. Anyway, I did my best to explain that every species has its role in the biosphere and we have to respect that even if we don't like it. "Like ecology?" she asked. All of us older people were dumbstruck because we were at least teenagers before we learned that word. "Yes," I replied after regaining my faculties, "that's the framework that everything fits in. Yes."

L-R: Amelia, Ryan, Abigail

Abigail's slightly older sister Amelia is an accomplished gymnast, but is also interested in natural history. Trips to far-flung gymnastic meets allow the whole family to explore new cities and have travel adventures along the way. They recently returned from Santa Fe, New Mexico, in fact.

It has been awhile since I have either made myself available to mentor students and children, or been afforded the opportunity, and I am grateful to the MHBC for providing a way to do that. We have other young people participating in club events, and I hope that continues to expand. I urge my readers to seek out organizations, events, and other avenues through which they can be mentors as well, whether in entomology or any other career or recreational pursuit. We need to repair trust to where it was when we were growing up. We are the village now, but we have to prove ourselves as responsible adults who truly have the interests of children and their families at heart.

Thank you, Abigail, for helping restore my faith in our next generation of human beings, regardless of whatever they become professionally when they "grow up." You already have a mature sense of self-confidence, and social skills I wish I had myself at your age.

100th Post: Meet Abigail Parker

I wanted to find a subject worthy of my 100th post to this blog, and I think I have one: My wonderful friend Abigail Parker. Abby is a highly intelligent and creative woman who has become a very respected authority on lady beetles (familyCoccinellidae) of North America. I finally had the pleasure of meeting her in person in south Texas last month.

We had known each other for a long while via Bugguide.net, but it turns out Abigail is very knowledgeable about most natural history subjects. She taught me several birds during the Texas trip. I would not have recognized this Willet, for example, had she not told me what it was.

Her enthusiasm and patience are remarkable, especially considering that she battles medical issues that would leave most of us indoors whining and complaining at a minimum. The heat and humidity of Brownsville and Mission will leave the healthiest person exhausted, but Abby was a real trooper.

One of the things I love most about Abigail is that she maintains a “sense of wonder” and awe that most scholars lose along the way in academia. She’s quick to ask that you not be in awe of her own Yale education, but her friendly and conversational personality put you at ease anyway.

Our mutual friend Mike Quinn invited us to join him, and his colleagues, for blacklighting in the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge. This was Abigail’s first time doing this kind of thing and she was in wonderland! It was great to see her enjoying herself, her friends, and the myriad of insects that flocked to the lights.

In “real life,” Abby lives with her husband in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she also works for a small publishing company. Her interests beyond birds and ladybugs extend to gems and tarot cards. She is also a talented artist, as any visit to her Facebook page or Flickr photostream will reveal. She also has her own blog, ”Butterfly Psyche”, that you might check out.

During the Texas trip I was honored to treat Abby to a birthday dinner at a sushi restaurant in Mission. We both got “dressed up” and had a great time. I learned a good deal about sushi, too! There seems to be no limit to Abigail’s passions, knowledge, and achievements. Keep it up, Abby, and know you have many friends who care about you.

The "Moth Ball"

The evening of Saturday, June 13, 2009 I had the pleasure of attending a delightfully informal event christened the “Moth Ball” by host David Small and his wife, Shelley. The site of this outdoor gala was their home in Athol, Worcester County, Massachusetts. I was among several honored human guests, all anxious to meet the nocturnal Lepidoptera that we hoped would be dancing under the blacklights.

Unfortunately, the weather was patently awful, raining incessantly all night long and into the following morning. No worries, though, as many moths, and other intriguing insects, showed up anyway, and all the people found plenty of entertainment indoors getting to know one another, perusing David’s library, looking at online moth websites and photo galleries, drinking, eating, and occasionally braving the elements to see new arrivals at the lights.

David has a great sense of humor, is laid back, and was always looking to make his guests comfortable. Shelley must have stocked the place with every beverage known to man, and then made strawberry shortcake. We were all well fed and watered. David and most of the guests are “amateur” naturalists, each with their own specialty and command of that group of organisms. Most of them knew far more about moth identification than myself, and I learned a great deal.

Some folks stayed overnight and were treated to comfortable sleeping accommodations and a fantastic breakfast the next morning. Many of the moths apparently liked the place well enough to hang around themselves, or else they had hangovers and were sleeping it off.

Someone made a rough tally of the lepidopterans seen over the prior evening and that morning and it totaled over sixty species, bad weather and all.

For a peek at the more interesting moths snapped by the paparazzi, please visit my companion blog, Sense of Misplaced, and keep an eye out here for additional items related to the Moth Ball. Better yet, hold your own event. It is a sure cure for the summer doldrums.

Leigh Anne DelRay

I recently met a person so exceptional that she deserves to be featured in both of my blogs, just to make sure you can’t avoid getting to know her. We met via (what else) the Bugguide.net website where she has started submitting images. While she is a certified animal enthusiast, from the feathered and two-legged to the hairy and eight-legged, her passion for life and art is contagious.

Leigh Anne has endured serious tragedy and drama in her life, but you wouldn’t know it from her affectionate, sunny disposition and creative and intuitive personality. She has a way of turning her experiences into a shared tapestry through her evocative photography skills and choice of subjects. Many of her images literally bring me to tears, but Leigh Anne recognizes the power of imagery and uses it to remind us that places, people, and stories are worth knowing, if only briefly.

One of Leigh Anne’s favorite pursuits is hunting meteorites. It has been a real education for me to learn just how popular a “hobby” this is, and the great value, both scientific and monetary, that is attached to “space rocks.” She recently invited me to a party at her employer’s house to watch the television debut of Meteorite Men, featuring her boss, Geoff Notkin, and his teammate Steve Arnold. Who knew Kansas was such a mecca for meteorites? About 30-40 friends of Geoff’s were packed into his living room, riveted to the TV screen, tuned to the Discovery Science Channel. A fun time was had by all, and I thank Leigh Anne for continuing to introduce me to more fascinating people. I’m not the most sociable sort, but she may change that.

Leigh Anne is well-traveled, too, and embraces all that a given location has to offer. While she was in Los Angeles she successfully auditioned as an extra in several films and popular television shows. For example, she was a patient with a broken leg on an episode of ER, and stood in line behind leading man Kevin Costner in the airport scene in the movie Dragonfly (alas she was left on the cutting room floor in that one). That kind of spontaneity speaks to her adventurous nature.

I should really let Leigh Anne’s work speak for itself, so I encourage you to visit her website, Callisto Images, and see if you, too, are not moved by her profound vision, the intimacy of her subjects, and the playfulness that she expresses. Thank you, Leigh Anne, for helping me re-awaken to the depth of life around us, and reminding me to “live in the moment.” Oh, and lest one get the wrong impression, Leigh Anne is with another wonderful gentleman who is a gifted woodworker and a caring, upstanding individual in his own right.

Enemy Mentality

Americans seem to classify insects and other arthropods in one of two categories: a pest to be annihilated with chemicals, or something to be devoured on the television show Fear Factor (or eaten by Bear Grylls on Man vs. Wild). Why does the media dwell on fear and loathing instead of fascination and appreciation? I suppose the answer should be obvious.

There is a great deal of money to be made by reinforcing the irrational fear of insects, spiders, and other arthropods. An educated consumer knows that he or she need not always reach for the can of insecticide at the mere appearance of an unidentified invertebrate. Household pesticide manufacturers and extermination services would undoubtedly lose business if the majority of their customers knew the truth about insects, and were able to identify which ones are a real source of concern and not merely a nuisance.

Further, our American society likes everything in black and white terms. Something is either “good,” or it is “bad.” We are uncomfortable with gray areas. We also seem to need motivation in the form of an adversary or foe, something to fight against. Insects and spiders are easily framed as villains. Maybe we can’t control what happens to us in the workplace, or maybe we are having a hard time controlling an unruly son or daughter, but gosh darn it we will control the cockroaches if it kills us.

I am often motivated to change public attitudes about insects because I firmly believe it will help dissolve our overall enemy mentality. Surely, if we can stop killing insects needlessly, we can stop killing each other, too.