My profile photo is from one of my all-time favorite gifts, a larger drawing of little beings, made by my friend Hillery’s mother, Kita, for my 3rd birthday. After getting bitten by the related bugs of macro photography and iNaturalist, the drawing feels emblematic of the joy of seeing life in richer, more intricate detail.

I am a true amateur, with no prior background in invertebrate biology. After a fortuitous introduction to native plant botany and the books of Heather Holm in 2021, I set out to discover who else was spending time in my small, urban backyard. Since then, I've enjoyed getting to know a little of each inhabitant and passersby’s character, and now I anticipate their return every year. I’ve fallen hardest for the bees.

iNat suits my wandering mind by spurring and satisfying curiosity and providing structure. When I feel like I've had it with our own species, being able to shift my focus and feel like I'm doing something beneficial for the greater world, instead of simply withdrawing into myself, is a plus. And when Minnesota is frozen over, and I've exhausted the photos on my own phone, I love that I can go through other people's bees to help figure out who they are

North American Halictus and other Halictini, as well as Minnesotan bees in general, are the main focus of my bee ID work, largely because I’m familiar with a lot of these bees on a firsthand basis. That said, I’ve really enjoyed helping with bee projects from other regions too.

Please don't hesitate to tag or message me if you have questions or if an ID seems off. In the interest of time, I often don’t include rationales with my IDs, but I’m always happy to elaborate if you’re interested. I truly appreciate the generosity of all who answer my own questions and point me in the right direction.

My IDs:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?ident_user_id=morcutt&not_user_id=morcutt