JK’s Summer 2015 Backyard Biodiversity Challenge (and yes, there are prizes)
The imminent sixth extinction has made a lot of headlines recently. For most of us, “extinction” is something that only happens to dinosaurs, or maybe exotic animals from nature programs: pandas or polar bears, not creatures of our own experience. Caught up in our daily traffic, it’s easy to forget how many species live right alongside us, and are just as vulnerable. I grew up in the temperate mid-Atlantic, where bumblebees were a key fixture on the backyard wildlife roster: only yesterday a story appeared in the news wires about the range of these fuzzy pollinators are losing range because of climate change. Biodiversity—a major theme of my upcoming novel, The Darksider—is something we don’t always appreciate.
Therefore (cue the heralds) I am announcing a Backyard Biodiversity Challenge!
All you need to participate is a cell phone camera…and maybe a little magnification. I’ve been passionate about photography since childhood (thanks to my mom, a lifelong hobbyist) and even snagged a college minor in the art, so when someone showed me a clip-on macro lens for my cell phone a few weeks ago, I had to get one of my own and try it out. While it can’t rival my DSLR, it’s a surprisingly competent little gadget that turns my phone into a back-pocket microscope. Definitely worth $18 on Amazon! Playing with my new toy has reacquainted me with the incredible wealth of tiny life forms in my neighborhood.
All the pictures here I took along my favorite running trail with nothing but a cell phone macro lens and some patience.
The ability to see and document these tiny wonders with my little pocket lens has literally changed my perspective. We discount the vibrance of our own local biomes because we don’t stop to notice the many humble species thriving at the fringe of human civilization. But how breathtaking is it to see the dusty scales on a butterfly’s wing, or a spiderweb jeweled with dew, or the colors in the throat of a flower? This is as high def as it gets. Last month my Laddie and I watched an ant and a caterpillar get in a fight (it was an insectoid sidewalk smackdown, and it was hilarious). Instead of missing nature’s syndicated series of the spectacular, let’s try to get it on film.
Almost everyone has a cell phone these days. Take yours—macro equipped or not—outside and see what species you discover in your own community. Research your finds online and try to identify them. Send your best pics to me (jkullrich at gmail dot com) and I’ll feature some of them on my blog. After the autumnal equinox (September 23) I’ll pick the most outstanding submissions for the following prizes:
Top three (3) backyard biodiversity champions will win ebook copies of my upcoming book The Darksider when it publishes.
Grand prize winner will receive an e-book copy of The Darksider AND the opportunity to name a character in book two of the trilogy.
You’re never too old to go exploring—I’m 29, and I’ve had a blast photographing insects and plants—so if you like science fiction stories and want an excuse to play with your cell phone this summer, step up and show me what you’ve got!
It dismays me that science sparks so much division in our society today. It doesn’t matter whether you believe in deity-assisted development or the subtle shift of genetics: everyone can admire the marvelous, delicate complexity of these tiny creatures sharing our backyards. If anything, science should be the thing that unites us. We all inhabit the same Earth and—for now, at least—it’s the only planet we’ve got.
