Born and raised in Florida, I currently work in Apiary Inspection which is part of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS), Division of Plant Industry (DPI). I am also a volunteer for the University of Florida's Honey Bee Research and Extension Laboratory. So for right now, Honey bees and their pests, parasites, & diseases are what I know the most.

My passion for nature started with admiring bugs and flowers as a child when playing outside. I grew up on a small family farm growing flowers & crops for fun and keeping hundreds of dairy goats, poultry, horses, fish, and honey bees until I moved. I enjoy learning more about botany, entomology, and really any flora & fauna local to my area. I hope to one day be able to identify, or at least get close to an ID of, everything present in Florida.

I may make an occasional mistake if I'm going too fast, so feel free to correct me and I will withdraw my ID if it seems reasonable. I also ID a lot of "Unknowns" so I often ID those to Class, Order, Family or lower if I can. This speeds up the ID process a lot as not many people comb through "Unknowns" so it helps get them to where they need to go.

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