not brackish.

is where I've seen them. They tend to walk in very wet places by the edge of standing water. Only some are in brackish water.

... it seems new things emerge daily!

I look forward to your posts and am glad to see lots of flies and bees.

for a former garbage dump and its non-native dominated vegetative communities, eh?

I did fine at a couple of small, local sites until they were "weeded". One is an electrical right-of-way, turned into a small farm by a food bank. Both had mostly non-native plants.

you mentioned your photographer friend who sits and wait, I bounce from patch-to-patch, area-to-area throughout my linear park. Usually I go out with a "goal" in mind each time (whether its bugs or plants or fungi or...) and then I snap everything I see.

As a generalist I am not inclined to "judge" what I find particularly the more obscure things. Not to toot my horn but my favorite "find" was a plain looking (to me) Damsel Bug which now has a guide page. [See http://bugguide.net/node/view/87397]

That ID alone reinforced my approach to documenting the ecological associations in my woods which I began following an attempt to turn my woods into a golf-course. During a debate about the golf-course plan with my city councilman, he repeatedly referred to the park as trashed and wasted space as his justification for supporting the plan. I had to rely on only subjective experience and personal relationship to counter his arguments which in the end was not why the plan failed.

Afterwards I vowed never to rely solely on sentiment or emotion in my defense of the park, so I set out to document the lifeforms which call that place home.

So you see why my Bugguide page (and all the id's contained therein) is so important to me: It's a record of the diversity of insect life that exists there.

So, many, many thanks to you, Ron, and all of the rest of the Bugguiders, for participating in this truly incredible project... I can honestly say I love this site with all my heart!

Yes, this is a great site. Based on what you've posted here, I'm certain you could put together a compelling presentation on what's special about your park. (FYI, my daughter, a former Baltimore resident, now lives in D.C. and is also very active in development issues.)

My Bugguide page may be one of (if not, THE) most comprehensive record of which U.S. pollinators (native or otherwise) visit the blooms of Alliaria petiolata (Garlic Mustard).

Does that make us all the "de facto" experts in North America on the topic? If there is a more comprehensive report out there on the web, please direct me to it!?

I can't recall who, but am sure it's a different plant and/or area. Will let you know if I can find or reconstruct. I'd wager you're right re: defacto and bet that Bug Guide hosts latest and most comprehensive info on the net for many topics.