2023 Year End Wrap
It’s been a minute since I looked back through a year on iNat and thought about the journey through the seasons and all the public lands accessed.
Highlights of the year:
-Joining the iNaturalist Board. I’m excited to help create sustainability for iNat as the organization moves into independence with an amazing group of people. Please join our community of monthly supporters; building diverse means of support is critical.
-Passing my 40,000th observation this spring. I decided to honor it with an excursion to the Griswold Hills in search of Desert Candle, Caulanthus inflatus with a crew of people I am honored to call friends. These are all friends I’ve become close to through the time we spend out in the field. @robberfly, @leslie_flint, @burtosa
-Seeing endemic Lepidoptera including the only two endemic butterflies in Hawai’i. This Omiodes moth is stunning; I found it by running a moth light at the hotel we stayed at in Kealakakua. The Kamehameha Butterfly, Vanessa tameamea is incredibly florescent in flight as it rockets through the canopy of the forest. I was lucky to be able to catch it for the few moments it was stopped on its host. The Hawaiian Blue, Udara blackburni isn’t blue but a beautiful shade of green outlined in yellows and rusts.
