Nick Block Curator

Joined: May 26, 2014 Last Active: Feb 14, 2024 iNaturalist Monthly Supporter since October 2019

[1 January 2022: For various reasons, I am not able to spend as much time on iNaturalist as usual. I need more hours in the day! I will hopefully have more time soon but can't commit to keeping up with notifications/tags like I have in the past. If I don't respond to a tag, I sincerely apologize and please don't hesitate to send me a direct message because I'm more likely to see that. Happy New Year!]

I'm a long-time observer and lister of birds, odonates, and lepidopterans. I also dabble in a fair number of other insect taxa, and I've recently started to try to learn some mosses and lichens. I'm an Associate Professor of Biology at Stonehill College in Easton, MA, where I teach evolution, ornithology, and introductory biology. My academic background is a B.S. in Wildlife & Fisheries Science from Texas A&M and a Ph.D. in Evolutionary Biology from the University of Chicago. My dissertation was on speciation and phylogenetics of the Bernieridae, an endemic Malagasy bird family, but my research these days focuses more on New England butterflies and dragonflies.

Geographic background: CA > TX > DE > TX > CO > TX > IL > PA > MA. US travels map.

I spend a lot of time (too much?) identifying butterflies and odonates on iNaturalist. If I disagree with your ID with no explanation, it's usually because I'm just moving quickly through the Needs ID section (which can also lead to mistakes on my part, I admit!). I'm always happy to explain my thought process and/or be corrected, though, so don't hesitate to ask!

View All