If I ever add an identification, mark something as cultivated, or do anything else without leaving a comment/explaining, please @ me if you are unsure as to why and I will respond. I try to identify observations pretty quickly and don't always slow down to leave comments on every observation.

I'm a plant nerd who enjoys travelling to parks across Ohio to find interesting native plants and the animals (especially insects) that use them. I think planting native plants is the best ways that we can work together as a society to give a helping hand to our struggling wildlife and preserve biodiversity. I know from personal experience that rebuilding habitat in your yard and watching the wildlife return is very fulfilling and exciting. My personal favorite visitors I've found in my yard are Melissodes spp, aka Longhorn Bees. My project for observations in my yard can be found here: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/longhorn-ranch. I'm not really a specialist on any particular plant group (I know a little about a lot), but I am pretty familiar with conifers of Ohio and and the Midwest/Northeast in general, as well as Utah after visiting and learning all the species this summer. Other groups I'm good at ID'ing are ferns and Populus of Ohio, and to a lesser extent Ohio's oaks, as well as the genus/subgenus Bryophyllum.

I'm very interested in the huge diversity of plants, ecosystems, and climates found in the United States, and someday I hope to travel to as many of the ecoregions of the US as I can, especially west of the Rockies and the South. I think it would also be cool to visit other continents to see their ecoregions and what species are similar/different to ours.

PSA! Please don't pull weeds until you've identified what they are. I almost pulled a few but let them grow to see what they were, and found Swamp Milkweed, Calico Aster, Sweet Everlasting, Goldenrod (altissima?), Black Cherry, Virginia Creeper, Red Oak, Silver Maple, Redbud, Tulip Tree, and Serviceberry! Even though some of those would usually be considered "weeds" and are very common, they host a multitude of different bees, lepidoptera, and other insects which in turn support many other species.

I can communicate in English or Spanish, but English is my first language.
Puedo comunicar en inglés o español, pero inglés es mi primer idioma.

Year in Review 2023

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