Grew up in Ontario in the seventies, the kid of a naturalist and lepidopterist (@rosslayberry here on iNaturalist), and I've never stopped chasing the butterflies in my head. I've been living on Vancouver Island since late 2010, and I am still struck just about every day by the natural beauty around me.

A freelance editor for more than a decade, I have worked on Collin Varner's bestselling series of flora and fauna books for Heritage (www.heritagehouse.ca/search/varner) which is how I first stumbled across this site.

These days, I am working with a Nikon D3200 with a Tamron 18-400mm F/3.5-6.3 DI-II VC HLD Lens, a Micnova GPS unit, and only the most rudimentary idea of how to use a DSLR.

NOTE: If I am browsing through observations and come across one left as unknown, I will usually affix at least a rudimentary ID (spiders or fungi or birds or Lepidoptera or ray-finned fishes, etc). I do this not because I am hungry for low-hanging fruit but because it helps ensure that the observation gets in front of the eyes of those people who filter results to address their own areas of expertise. The best way to ensure that a spider expert takes a look at an observation of a spider is to ensure that it's identified as a spider.

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