Pride Month: Meet @xris!

We’re featuring some of iNat’s LGBTQIA+ users this Pride Month. Here’s @xris!

Name: Chris Kreussling (aka Flatbush Gardener)

Pronouns: he or they

“I joined iNaturalist in 2013 - coming up on my 10th anniversary!” says Chris Kreussling, although he admits he didn’t post his first observation until about four years later. He was interested in learning about the insects visiting his garden in Brooklyn, New York City and found the iNat community welcoming to learners.

Chris’s “spark bug” was this Eristalis tranversa fly.

[It’s the fly] that left me amazed and got me to start observing my garden more closely. As I write in that observation’s description: “I had never seen anything like this, and had no idea that flies could be so beautiful.”

He’s since created a project for his garden, where he’s observed over 10,000 observations, and

so far, I’ve documented 61 species of bees that visit my garden, including several that nest here. That’s almost 30% of the bee species believed to persist in New York City. I’ve been monitoring a population of the solitary, ground-nesting Colletes thoracicus, rufous-backed cellophane bee, in my garden for 16 years! And one of the tiny metallic green sweat bees, Augochlora pura, nests in the rotting logs I place around my garden for habitat.

Although he considers himself an “urban naturalist,” and has helped with NYC’s City Nature Challenge since 2019, Chris also loves getting out of the city as well.

My husband’s family has a cabin in the Adirondacks. We try to get up there every year. I’ve lived all my life within 15 miles of the Atlantic Ocean, so getting “up north” and into the woods is a real treat. Seeing the wilder end of the Hudson River is also amazing. I’m obsessed with the ice meadows that form along the river there. It’s a rare and globally threatened habitat, even more so with climate change. I try to document everything I can when I get to visit one of them. [Like this sharpshooter below - TI]

I don’t think I “read” as gay, but I assume anyone who meets me can figure it out. I am out and visible wherever I am. When I lead or guide workshops and walks, I like to casually work the phrase “my husband” into my exposition to make it clear. The LGBTQ+ and Neurodivergent Naturalist Projects on iNaturalist are another way I can be visible. I like that those Projects show up on all my observations! The rainbow flag in my avatar also helps.

Being white, cis male, and gender-conforming imparts a lot of privilege and protection. I feel safe, for example, walking on my own in most of NYC’s urban parks. I have many naturalist friends who do not. I hope that by being out, open, and visible – using that privilege – I can help change that.

(Photo of Chris was taken by his neighbor, Roberta Feldhusen - here’s the observation. Chris’s profile image was made by Ethan Kocak - @ethan31.)

- Chris is very active: blogging, giving iNat trainings, and posting on Mastodon. Check out the links in his profile for blog posts, appearances, slide decks, and more!

- Take a look at other home-based projects here!

- That “spark bug” was identified by one of iNat’s top hover fly identifers - read about some of those fly identifiers here.

- Since he posts so many observations of insects on plants, Chris makes extensive use of observation fields like "Interaction->Visited flower of" to record plant-animal interactions.

Posted on June 8, 2023 07:28 PM by tiwane