Encino, CA, USA

When I was a kid (3+decades ago), they had summer classes at (I think) the Los Angeles Museum of Science and Industry. One of them was called "Backyard Ecology," and included (among many other things) instruction in making your own butterfly net, killing jar, etc. Since then I've kept an eye on the insect species in my yard.

I'm really interested in just about everything in the natural world, and am most knowledgeable about plants, with herbs and California Natives being my main areas of expertise.

I have a relatively small yard, but I grow a considerable variety of plants (including natives), have no pets, and don't use insecticides outdoors. The result is a fairly large variety of bugs.

My front and back yards are quite different: the back is dominated by the shade of an evergreen/Chinese Elm and is always quite a few degrees cooler than the front. It has a greater variety of plants (some fruit-bearing) and more cover. The front yard is sunny and often hot, with more flowers providing nectar. I can usually find active insects there year-round.

I have some background in computers (especially databases) and a degree in Linguistics. My main problem is that I'm fairly good at everything but deciding what to focus on- I know something about almost everything, but not almost everything about anything.

Although most of my images range from decent-but-mediocre to bad, there are a few that are favorites: