For the past few years, I have observed one of our native shrubs to see what pollinators are visiting. Calscape has recorded Ocean Spray (Holodiscus discolor) as a host plant to approximately 14 species of Lepidoptera. Yet, I have actually never seen a single pollinator visiting the cascades of snowy white, delicate blossoms. I've also heard from a handful of local folks on San Juan Island.

It has taken a bit of time to finally sort out genus and species for this very cool Robber fly with beautiful caramel-brown mottled wings I spied the evening of June 6, 2025. It perched on one of my dried apple mint stems from last season, no doubt scouting the terrain to see what might be on the menu for dinner.

I'm quite fascinated by the rapid colonization of the very dry soil in the strip where our internet fiber cable was installed this past spring. Because disturbed soils can be great for seeding native wildflowers, I threw out several packets of a Pacific Northwest seed blend to see what might grow and I've been checking often to see what is coming up.

The other morning when I was watering our garden, I spied the most beautiful creature I've seen in a long time, a Golden Paper Wasp (Polistes aurifer). In fact, in sixteen years of living on San Juan Island, I have only seen one colony of these wasps (April 14, 2024) at the San Juan County Land Bank's Mount Grant nature preserve.

Soldier Beetle (Genus Silis) This tiny little friend (approx. 6mm) sporting a red collar is a soldier beetle in the family Cantharidae. It is in the Genus Silis, but there are so many species, that I will just leave it at the genus level for now. Soldier Beetle (Genus Silis) Silis beetles are quite cosmopolitan in distribution, associated with wooded areas and leaf litter, and active daytime fliers in early summer.

This was the most beautiful creature at my moth light this morning. It is the Canary Thorn Moth (Neoterpes  trianguliferata ). I was surprised to see anything there given the drop in temperatures we've had the past few days. After a few photos, I got too close and he flew out of the open barn area into some grass, struggling a bit in the wind, so I was able to carefully coax him back into an egg carton to shelter the day back undercover and out of the rain.

This is a post about one of the most unusual beetles I’ve ever found on San Juan Island. The species is Odonteus obesus. I’m hoping to attract a male specimen to my bug light after find…

This is a post about one of the most unusual beetles I've ever found on San Juan Island. The species is Odonteus obesus. I'm hoping to attract a male specimen to my bug light after finding this female over the weekend, but haven't had any luck yet. A few years ago, I found a male though. They are simply incredible, beautiful and weird all at once...

Here's a quick rundown of what I spied at my bug light when I checked this morning. I did move the bucket and light to a new location across from our house in our open air barn. There were nine species of moths (31 individuals), two species of Coleoptera (beetles), and one wasp that I believe is Ophion sp. Moths: …

YouTube video by Bugging You From San Juan Island