Great Basin

Sunset for another great collecting trip

/ Ted C. MacRae / 17 Comments

All good things must come to an end, and so it is with my Great Basin collecting trip. From Nevada’s isolated ranges to California’s stunning Owens Valley; from Utah’s starkly beautiful canyons to Colorado’s majestic mountains, the experience not only quenched my thirst for natural history but also provided much needed spiritual renewal. Look for a “Trip iSummary” here at Beetles in the Bush in the coming days, and of course I have lots of photographs of the insects I encountered that I will share in the following weeks.

In the meantime, here’s a preview of one of the species that I encountered—a male Agrilus walsinghami preparing to bed down for the night.

Agrilus walsinghami | Davis Creek Regional Park, Washoe Co., Nevada

Agrilus walsinghami (male) | Davis Creek Park, Washoe Co., Nevada

© Ted C. MacRae 2013

Flown the coop

/ Ted C. MacRae / 3 Comments

Ted has flown the coop and will be roaming the vastness of the Great Basin for the next week or so to collect and photograph beetles and other insects. Ted has asked me to watch over BitB while he is away, so allow me to introduce myself—I’m “fly guy” (although Ted calls me Geron sp. and insists that my family is called Bombyliidae or something weird like that). I live in the semi-arid hills near Washoe Lake, Nevada and spend my days flitting amongst antelope bitterbrush and desert peach and sipping nectar from rabbitbrush flowers with Mt. Rose in the backdrop. Anyway, I don’t think Ted has thought his plan through very well—since I’m not very smart (I am just a fly, afterall), a quick photo here and there is about the best I can do. Anyway, for my first post, I hope you’ll enjoy this portrait of ME!

Geron sp.

Copyright © Fly Guy 2013