MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • September 4, 2022
Every day, I go on safari in my flower garden. Armed with my iPhone and an observant and patient eye, I trail whatever flying bug comes my way and snap a picture of it when it stops to rest or eat. So far, my discoveries include: two kinds of bird-poop-mimicking moths, a dozen different kinds of bees, multiple kinds of flower flies that mimic bees with their stripes, iridescent beetles and wasps, a moth that resembles a hummingbird and numerous humpbacked dance flies wearing golden slippers of pollen. I once tended not to notice tiny insects, even though they outnumber us on the planet by more than 200 million times. With the use of the app iNaturalist to identify them, I’m discovering all sorts of critters I didn’t know were there. I can venture into my own backyard where there are many animals I’ve never seen before – hiding in plain sight. ~ Margie Patlak, Corea