Category Archives: News

The Week on Sunday #21

By Adrian | Published 17 February, 2013

Welcome to another Week on Sunday!

♦  The first half of yesterday was spent at City Centre, Edmonton, recording and photographing Chinese New Year’s celebrations. However  after an excellent free lunch at the Famous Wok, I stepped out, made my way to the LRT and then sped over to spend an afternoon at the U of A’s Earth Sciences Building. I was attending the launch of a new citizen-science program by the Alberta Lepidopterists’ Guild. AltaLeps  has initiated a new citizen-science project to create a butterfly atlas for Alberta. This will be a digital continuation of the original atlas, Alberta Butterflies (1995), which was co-authored and ‘fathered’ by Dr.Charles Bird. In  this program, John Acorn gathered a select group of speakers to tell us more about why a new atlas is needed and how this citizen-science project can benefit scientific research.

AbButterflyAtlas20130216_0035

Dr. Felix Sperling, Dr. Maxim Larrivee, Dr. Charles Bird, Dr. Greg Breed, Dr. Katy Prudic and John Acorn

John Acorn introduced the meeting by telling us why an online butterfly atlas is an important project to help link scientists and butterfly enthusiasts. I particularly appreciated  John emphasizing the social aspects of butterfly watching and how data collected by butterfly enthusiasts could,  in the future, be used in ways that have not been thought of yet.

Max Larrivée, who is one of the originators of eButterfly Canada, talked about his experiences with eButterfly and how the data collected has already helped his own research, showing how climate change is pushing the range of butterflies northward. He stressed how important it was that all contributors have access to all the data that is collected.

Katy Prudic, from the University of Oregon spoke about her own research in: “Continental Co-Evolution: Using eButterfly to understand the geographic mosaic of plant-insect interactions.” Katy has been involved establishing  eButterfly in the USA.

Greg Breed, a Banting Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Alberta, spoke on his work in Massachusetts, where he has be using multiple sources of observational data (including citizen science based data) to study changes in butterfly ranges. He particularly noted that he could not have done his research without the help of archived citizen-enthusiast observations.

Charles Bird talked about how we should not lose the information collected in the pre-digital era, where a lot of data exists in private collections. He noted that eButterfly now has the ability to upload correctly formatted data in bulk. With Max Larrivée’s help, the data of over 500 of his  butterfly observations had just been uploaded to the eButterfly.ca site!

The session was completed with Felix Sperling speaking on how data has been collected since the publication of Alberta Butterflies. He mentioned the annual butterfly walks initiated by the Xerces Society  in the 1990′s, and how similar butterfly counts became a trend in Alberta under the leadership of Barbara and Jim Beck. He also pointed out how some data collected by members of the Alberta Lepidopterists Guild has already been available online through the virtual E.H. Strickland Entomology Museum, largely thanks to the work of Gary Anweiler, a moth enthusiast and founding member of the Alberta Lepidopterists Guild. Felix noted how important it is that all the various types of data should find their way into the eButterfly/Alberta Butterfly Atlas.

It was an interesting session, that gives a new sense of purpose for Alberta butterfly watchers, photographers and naturalists, knowing that their observations have the potential to influence science for many years to come. I look forward to learning more about the progress of the Alberta Butterfly Atlas and, most of all, being able to add data and explore the information that has been collected.

♦ From butterflies to lice: a video on the co-evolution of birds and bird lice. Illinois Natural History Survey ornithologist Kevin Johnson:

 

♦ And to close…

What can amateurs contribute to the science of entomology? Read this BBC article on The bug-hunters discovering new species in their spare time,

 

Until next week…

 

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Also posted in Alberta, Alberta, Amateur Entomologist, Biodiversity, Bugs, Canada, Climate, Collection, eButterfly, evolution, Lepidoptera, Links, Week on Sunday, Winter | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sir David Attenborough’s Life Stories coming to PBS

By Adrian | Published 19 January, 2013

The BBC and Sir David Attenborough have enriched the lives of many nature loving people. Who can forget Life in the Undergrowth or Life in Cold Blood and the many other documentaries that he brought to us? Now, a new series will be showing on PBS, starting on January 23…

Watch Attenborough’s Life Stories: Part 1 Preview on PBS. See more from Nature.

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Scholars Studying Insects

By Adrian | Published 3 November, 2012
"Schouburg the Caterpillars, Worms, Maggots and Flying Creatures"

Scholars studying insects. Jan Luyken, 1680. Opening plate for “Theatre of Caterpillars, Worms, Maggots and Flying Creatures” by Steven Blankaart (1650 – 1704)

While I doubt that the surroundings at Coast Edmonton Plaza Hotel will be quite as stimulating as in the above image, I am very much looking forward to observing and learning about insects at the gathering of Canadian entomologists that is taking place tomorrow!

JAM 2012, after a year of organizing itself,  is finally going to split the pupal casing and eclose  into  daylight  tomorrow at 1 PM when the opening ceremonies begin. I’ll be fluttering buzzing galumphing around with my camera, taking videos, photographs and generally getting in the way, so please introduce yourself when you spot me.

See you there!

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Also posted in Alberta, Art, Canada, Edmonton, Entomological Society of Alberta, Entomological Society of Canada, Entomology, Insect, Joint Annual Meeting, Lepidoptera, photography, Science, Updates, Winter | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Week on Sunday 4

By Adrian | Published 26 August, 2012

♦ The Lord Howe Island stick insect made news again recently, when an image showing the hatching of one of these bizarre beauties received a commendation at the 2012 New Scientist Eureka Prize for Science Photography. Read more on the history at Scientific American, as the captive bred stick insects from Melbourne Zoo are set to be released on Lord Howe Island.

♦ The big news of the week, for any lover of bug photography, is that BugShot 2012, Alex Wild’s weekend workshop, is now in full progress. How I would like to be there to learn more from the likes of Thomas Shahan, John Abbott, and, of course, Alex Wild himself! Although I can’t be there to relay what’s going on, fellow bug blogger Crystal Ernst will hopefully have time to keep us up-to-date over at The Bug Geek, or latch on to the Geek’s Twitter stream here for instant gratification.

♦ Marc Srour, an invertebrate palaeontologist, blogs over at Teaching Biology. Weekly, he posts some of new scientific papers that manage to pique his interest. And I, like a raiding kleptoparisitic spiders, drop by his blog occasionally and see if there is anything in the arthropodic line for me to have a gander at. Sure enough, his last post had a few articles that looked quite interesting. Of course, not having any sort of academic access, I have to be happy reading just the abstracts….

♦ One of the first insects that new macro photographers snap are bees visiting flowers. This leads to some inevitable confusion, because many of the bees they photograph are actually flies, and the most common of the flower visiting flies are in the family Syrphidae, the hover flies. I recently found out that the Field Guide to the Syrphidae of Northeastern North America is online, with the goal of having all of the 397 species illustrated by 2014. This is sure to be helpful, and fascinating too — there is much more diversity in this family than I realized!

- And be sure to visit the The Canadian National Collection (CNC) of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes while you are at it. Lots going on here for our buggy delight.

♦ E.O. Wilson is one of the great popular communicators of entomology, and the inspiration for the title of this blog. But he is not without his detractors, and his foray undermining the evolutionary concept of ‘kin selection‘ has earned him a lot of criticism. At the age of 83, he is still a force to be reckoned with, as this interview in Guardian shows.

That’s all for this week…

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Also posted in Behaviour, Blog Link, Bugs, Canada, Conservation, Insect, invertebrates, Links, macro, Phasmatodea, photography, Science, Video, Week on Sunday | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

‘Back in the Saddle’ Update.

By Adrian | Published 6 August, 2012

Back in the saddle, but, dang nab it, I can’t find my horse!

Last week we returned from a solid three-week family vacation to Newfoundland. Rich in grand landscapes (Gros Morne!) and maritime history (our daughter loved  the L’Anse aux Meadows viking site and the interpretive viking encampment), we enjoyed the island on historical/maritime basis, but on the bug side of life I achieved little. Family vacations are rarely productive for me photographically, and three weeks of intermittent wind, rain and sun did not help either. Even on sunny hot days, large patches of fireweed, knapweed or thistle — bug magnets in my area in Alberta — seemed to draw surprisingly few insects in Newfoundland. On the northern peninsula the most visible were swarms of large dragonflies, but they were continuously hawking around, so that I did not achieve even one shot of these beauties.

And I even somehow managed to miss the Newfoundland Insectarium twice: coming and going.

So, all in all, a relaxing vacation which enriched our understanding of Canadian history,  but a three-week gap in bug stuff and in our real lives. We came home to a garden verdant, a jungle that has over-thrived in the many rainy days that Alberta experienced while we were gone. Unlike some unfortunate others, a visit to the basement  in our house found it dry — but there, in my office, still in the bins and packages that I had prepared, were dozens of  photographic prints, all matted and some framed, a reminder of the outdoor art show that I had prepared for, and that had been washed-out by our unusually rainy season. Now faced with the backlog of garden work, incomplete landscape projects for customers and all the regular dealings of life…I find myself feeling deflated and rudderless.

Of course, the best remedy for this bout of post-holiday blues is to saddle my horse and get back on. I have an abstract to prepare for a brief talk on Insect Photography and the Web that I will present at the Insects on the Internet Symposium at the Joint Annual Meeting of the Entomological Societies of Canada. Then I have to prepare the actual presentation (sounds of feverish stoking of meagre intellect…) and a slide show for the after dinner entertainment. I need to get back to my routine visits to the Opal Natural Area, but now with the goal of developing a project of some sort for that location. I am also about to begin a stint as a volunteer for the Edmonton and Area Land Trust as a contributing videographer, photographer and producer, to help promote their conservation efforts…

And, I almost forgot,  I need to make some submissions to the EntoBlog!

All in all, a diversity of horses to tame, and I hope to be up, firmly seated and back in the saddle again soon.

Hi Yo Silver!

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Rooted: Perspectives on the Natural World

By Adrian | Published 29 June, 2012

Note (3 July) : This show was cancelled due to rain. It is being rescheduled for the 22 of July, and, unfortunately I will not be able to attend at that time. See you in 2013?

A few weeks ago, I took the chance and entered a juried competition for display space at the Devonian Botanic Garden‘s Canada Day Celebration. Under the theme of Rooted: Perspectives on the Natural World, I presented three images that appealed to me — and I was surprised, and pleased, to find out my submission was accepted by the selection committee.

For the last two weeks,(between regular life and work) I have been busy preparing for this show, which takes a surprising amount of thought and organization (not my strongest skills!). This is the second time that I have had the chance to present what I do. The first was a simple info booth on the benefits of naturalistic gardening, which featured a few bug photographs that proved to be quite popular. This is the first time that I can display a full selection of bug photographs to the public, with the opportunity to make sales.

Will curiosity lead people to a greater appreciation and the willingness to hang bug portraits on the wall?

This Sunday will be the test.

At the very least, I will have the chance to talk about bugs and share why we should learn to appreciate them more. I will have some of my macro equipment on hand, so I can demonstrate some impromptu bug photography techniques, especially if kids are willing and able to provide live specimens!

Drop by if you can: my Canada Day will be a Bug Appreciation Day!

Visit the Devonian Garden’s website for more information and directions.

Note: This show was cancelled due to rain. It is being rescheduled for the 22 of July, and, unfortunately I will not be able to attend at that time. See you in 2013? (3 July)

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Coming soon to Splendour Awaits…

By Adrian | Published 9 April, 2012

(Revised on May 5, 2012)

Since beginning Splendour Awaits I have wanted to expand the content, both in terms of entomology, macro photography and the overall biophilia that drives them. However, I have only one life, and I cannot write about and search for everything that I would love to share and still have time to be a dad, earn a living and do more photography! So the idea occurred to me…

“Why not let others do some of the work“?

Yes! In order to raise the intellectual level of this otherwise stretched blog, I developed some simple ideas over the winter, which I now hope to launch in the next week or two:

◊ The World of Macro Photography: Featuring interviews with professional macro photographers from around the world.

◊ A Day in the Life: first person accounts in practical entomology.

◊ Feature Entomologist: interviews with professional bug people from around the world, a look at entomology in all of its aspects: agriculture, forestry, forensics, teaching, behaviour, medicine, ecology, environment etc.

If you know of any one who may want to submit to any of the above projects, or if you wish to do so yourself, please let me know and I will forward the requirements and the questionnaire. Each submission that is accepted will be ‘on top’ of the blog for at least 24 hours, and will eventually be included on pages dedicated to each project.

And, for amateurs in the hidden world of nature: entomology, bryology, mycology etc., or general macro photography…

◊  Be a Guest Blogger: while the previous three projects are aimed at professionals who I will be contacting personally, in the guest blogging project I would like to include posts that feature those who pursue macro photography or natural history as a hobby. Any subject will do, as long as it falls into a ‘Natural Science‘ category. So if you have a passion for natural subjects of the small kind – be it bugs or fungi, freshwater invert’s or sea-shore life – I would be interested in receiving an article from you!
Each submission should include:

♦ a short biography

♦ the influences that have directed your life towards your subject

♦ your current ‘mentors’

♦ your equipment

♦ your techniques

♦ examples of your best photography(which should include titles and identification), or pictures of yourself pursuing your passion .

♦ any current project that you are pursuing or would like to pursue

♦ and, if you can, links to you own blog and/or webpages.

This is a chance to get your story out and to share your passion, and a great way help kick-start your own blog or website. If you have any questions, or if you would like to submit a post, please go to my Contact page and use ‘Guest Blogger’ in the subject area. And if you know of anyone who may be interested, please spread the word!  Each submission, if accepted will be ‘on top’ of the blog for at least 24 hours, and will eventually be included on a page dedicated to the project.

 

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