Let's go "bugging"!

I believe the major reason people tend to be largely ignorant about the number and diversity of bugs in their midst is that they simply don't see them. Let's face it - bugs are small. If you would ask the average person to describe the bugs in their backyard on any given day in the summer, they would probably come back with a list of mosquitoes, flies, bees, butterflies...maybe a moth or a wasp. My guess is that there are dozens of bugs present but people just aren't aware they are there.

Golden-haired flower beetle

I think we should start a new pastime - Bugging! Lots of people go out into nature to look for birds. They are "birders" going "birding". Their goal may be to photograph the beautiful flying creatures or to check off a new species on a list they faithfully keep or simply to enjoy the color and complexity of each unique bird. Why can't we do the same thing with bugs?

Agapostemon Bee

One of my favorite activities for kids (or adults) is "bug bingo". Each participant gets a card with a mixture of names of common bugs: bee, butterfly, caterpillar, ant, etc. As you hike along a trail or explore an area, each participant tries to fill their card first by spotting the listed insect before anyone else. It is a fun event that is also educational. I think we should expand the idea and create checklists of bugs that can be found in a particular area and encourage anyone exploring to try to fill in their checklist with their sightings for the day.

Maybe if people were more used to looking for bugs in their midst, they would start to become aware of just how many there are and how beautiful each one is!

Metallic wood boring beetle

Change

It is hard to believe that it has been more than 2500 years since the Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, declared that "The only constant in life is change". Somehow the message seems just as valid today as it no doubt was during those ancient days.

A couple months ago I listened to a discussion on NPR in which the scientist being interviewed had conducted a study regarding the concept of personal change in individual lives. The simplified summary is that he asked a group of people at various stages in their lives two questions: 1) How much has your life changed in the last five years? and 2) How much do you expect your life to change in the next five years? Invariably the answers to the questions were 1) a lot and 2) not much. Somewhat unsurprisingly, the belief that everything would remain static into the future was more pronounced the older the subject being asked the question. Then he went back five years later and asked the same question of the same people, and again another five years after that and each time, the answers were exactly the same! That is "My life has changed a lot in the last five years but it is not going to change in the future." But of course, it did!

If someone had suggested to me twenty years ago that I would be spending the bulk of my days searching for, taking and editing photographs at this point in my life, I would have had a hard time believing it. If someone had told me three years ago that almost all the photos I would be taking would be of bugs, I would have said they were crazy! Yet that is where I find myself at this stage of my life - and loving it, I should add.

Close-up image of a dragonfly

Cabbage white butterfly

Bee fly

The great unknown for me as I go forward is whether or not I can find a way to use my images of tiny things to communicate an environmental message. Not only is there the bigger story of the importance of biodiversity in our world, there are the individual dramas of each unique creature with its unique purpose for existence. 

I look forward to telling their stories in much more detail!