Love: knitting, photography, nature, origami, learning new things... aaaand, bees! Native bees are awesome.

Since joining the team at the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation (I format publications for the Pollinator Program), my inherent fascination with bees and beneficial insects like lady beetles and wasps has exploded. I've been working with my family for several years to create a tiny little urban oasis for pollinators and beneficial insects on our 0.1 acre lot in Southeast Portland.

Many of the photos shared here are of the huge variety of species we've started seeing in the garden since we switched to predominantly native, pollinator-friendly plants. While, my original goal was to try and document all the species that showed up in our garden, that's become impossible as more and more new species show up every year!

So, after realizing how unrealistic that goal was, I'm still going to try and document as many species as possible every year, but it'll definitely be an incomplete inventory.

In order to be as accurate as possible, I'll be getting ID confirmations from BugGuide, DiscoverLife, and Bumble Bee Watch—or one of the many conservation biologists I work with ;)

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at: fyberduck(at)gmail(dot)com for inquiries about my pollinator garden, photos, etc., or at sara.morris(at)xerces(dot)org for inquiries related to work (please note that I am NOT a conservation biologist and will be unable to provide any help with identifying specimens, etc.