Beetles, bees and butterflies: How to explore your buzzing backyard ecosystem

About this episode

The episode discusses the diversity of insect species in backyards and how to catalog them using the iNaturalist app.

Have you ever thought about just how many insect species call your yard home? There are thousands of species to discover just outside your door. The app iNaturalist lets users upload photos to identify insects, animals, fungi and more. Each iNaturalist entry helps the team at the Vermont Center for Ecostudies (VCE) catalogue every living species in the Vermont Atlas of Life . Two VCE biologists discuss ways to spot and catalogue local species: Kent McFarland , VCE's co-founder and the force behind the Vermont Butterfly Atlas , and Spencer Hardy , a bee biologist who runs VCE's Wild Bee Survey and the co-owner of The Farm Upstairs in Jericho. Amateur naturalist and community scientist Bernie Paquette of Jericho is one of the top bee observers in the world on iNaturalist, where he posts research-grade photographs of insects. Last year, he received the 2025 Julie Nicholson Community Science Award from VCE.

People in this episode

Guests: Kent McFarland, Spencer Hardy

Topics covered

• insects
• biodiversity
• community science
• iNaturalist
• local ecology

Keywords

• insect species
• iNaturalist
• Vermont Center for Ecostudies
• community science
• bee biologist

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Vermont Center for Ecostudies, Vermont Butterfly Atlas, The Farm Upstairs

Places: Vermont

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