Peter Abrahamsen

加入於:2017 12 月 07 最近活躍:2024 10 月 08 每月捐款者 since 2021年11月

From Seattle, trying to pay more attention to the variety of life in the Pacific Northwest and around the world. I have little formal training, and appreciate identification tips, trivia, and corrections.

Likewise, I do a lot of identifying on here, and don't usually stop to explain myself. Feel free to ask for an explanation.

I do heuristic identifications of commonly observed species in Western Washington as part of "triage" identification. I will often withdraw an ID in the face of credible disagreement and stay quiet on a taxon until I've learned more.

I often post from the field, then narrow my identifications after further research with the benefit of a monitor.

I hike with the Mountaineers Naturalists, whose Introduction to the Natural World course is a pretty good place to get started with naturalism.

Primary photography gear:

  • Olympus E-M1 Mark III (micro four-thirds)
  • Olympus M.Zuiko 40-150mm f2.8
  • Olympus M.Zuiko 60mm Macro
  • Godox TT685O II Flash

Social:

Plants

I use the Burke Herbarium to learn more about species characteristics, range, and to see representative photos. The PNW Herbaria site is more up to date, but I have not figured out how to use it.

I am a member of the Washington Native Plant Society. Their website is a great starting point for resources, connecting to people, lectures, and species checklists for Washington hikes.

Other resources:

Bees

I am a member of the Washington Native Bee Society". This is a relatively new organization, with lots of energy. Check out the website and come to monthly meetings to get find your starting point with bees.

I also volunteer with both the Xerces Society's PNW Bumble Bee Atlas and the Washington Department of Agriculture's Washington Bee Atlas to identify and map native bee species. We think Washington might have around 700 species of bee, many of them currently unknown or undescribed.

Agapostemon. In Washington, all are subgenus Agapostemon. In the Seattle area:

Resources:

Bumblebees (Bombus spp.)

If I IDed your female bumblebee in Western Washington as Pyrobombus rather than B. vosensenskii, it's probably because I need a few of the underside (the stergites) to distinguish it from B. caliginosus. If the bee is male (no corbiculae, or it has some yellow on T5), I don't know enough to distinguish the species in any case.

A view of the hair on the front of the head is also necessary to distinguish these species from B. californicus in this region.

Resources:

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