The Dragon Hunter and the Bee Hunter: Both Birdwatchers

Richard Orr has an interesting website at http://www.marylandinsects.com.   He has checklists and photographs of dragonflies and damselflies found in the Maryland-Washington, DC area, as well as photographs.  He also has photographs of bees, moths, butterflies, and other arthropods.

Richard is considered by many entomologists and conservation biologists as the leading authority on dragonflies and damselflies in the Mid-Atlantic Region.  He maintains the historical and current species records for the State of Maryland and the District of Columbia. 

Richard includes Sam Droege’s records and checklists of regularly occurring bee species found in the Washington D.C. area.  Sam is a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, which adjoins the Beltsville (Maryland) Agricultural Research Center from which I retired in 2011 as a science writer.  I’ve met Richard and Sam on bird counts on the Center’s research farm.

Sam’s artistic photograph of dead birds collected by volunteers in Washington, D.C., victims of collisions with brightly lit buildings, appears in the July-August 2014 issue of Audubon Magazine.   Sam posted the photograph as a “public art statement” on Flickr.  The article is about the Lights Out campaign.  The article sites a link for learning how to start a Lights Out campaign in the towns we live in:  www.bird-friendly.audubon.org/lightsout.

 His site also has links to other arthropod websites, including those dealing with dragonflies and damselflies and other dealing with everything from ants to moths.

 One of the most interesting links to me is to the Maryland Biodiversity Project (MBP) (http://www.marylandbiodiversity.com/index.php) that is cataloging all the living things of Maryland.  The project was started in June 2012 by Bill Hubick and Jim Brighton, right about the time I left Maryland for Ohio.   They have already cataloged more than 13,000 species, including over 4,400 species with photographs, and feature the work of more than 200 naturalists and photographers.

 Richard also has a link to his Flickr photographs at https://www.flickr.com/photos/dragonflyhunter.

 

Common White Tail Dragonfly at pond near Apple Valley.  Photographed on June 20, 2014.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Check out my website at:  www.doncomis.simplesite.com