I love nature! I use iNaturalist mostly as a place to store the cool living things I see, and to learn what they're called and how they're related to other living things I know about.

I'm from Guelph, Ontario, and I grew up camping with my family and attending Camp Big Canoe in Bracebridge, Ontario. On a family trip to Point Pelee, I bought a flower field guide and studied it endlessly, trying to memorize and identify all the flowers I could see.

In 2015, I moved to Squamish, BC to attend Quest University. I found it more difficult to pursue only flowers. I tried to learn trees and ferns and birds, but it wasn't until my third year when I took a Biodiversity class that I learned about iNaturalist and began to just take pictures of everything. I'm not a great scientist because I often just go with the photo recognition service ID, unless I know it's totally wrong, and let the community correct it... Sorry and thank you!

In 2017, I had the opportunity to study entomology for 2 months in at the Monteverde Butterfly Gardens in Monteverde, Costa Rica. It was life changing! I apply that knowledge every day because bugs (yes, I know, arthropods) are everywhere! I even got over my fear of scorpions and spiders because I learned about them through reading books and leading nature tours, and found them all over my house.

In 2019, I moved to Gunma Prefecture in Japan, to spend a year abroad teaching English. I still take pictures of everything, and my proudest photo this year has been of a Japanese Serow (カモシカ), though I've also seen many incredible spiders and insects. Japan is amazing because it seems like there are flowers for every season. And the beetles are everywhere and huge! I live in the countryside, so lots of people who grew up here also love bugs. It's awesome.

I'll move back to Ontario this fall, and after completing my self-quarantine, I will get caught up with the autumn plants and bugs back at home. I'm passionate about finding urban nature, contributing to citizen science projects, helping people get over fears of bugs, and noticing small and beautiful examples of biodiversity every day. I also want to start learning bird calls by recording them, even if I can't get a photo!