Author Description

This is the culmination of a casual seven year venture to capture in pictures the pollinating flying critters at Red Heart, a small plot of land in the Texas Hill Country. With no end in sight for identifying additional species, in this book the author brings into view just a few of the hundreds of bees native to Texas (Apidae), twenty-one species of flies (Order Diptera) and over 100 species of moths (Lepidoptera) that have appeared before her camera thus far. Not intended as an academic or scientific study, the book offers the first level of familiarity with these important partners that help maintain the health of our planet. These species are pollinators of varying degrees of efficiency, but each plays an important role in the biodiversity of the land. Recognizing the visible ongoing climate changes now upon us in 2020, it seems appropriate to document what is here, in this specific place, at this moment in time. That is what this book seeks to do. This book follows as a companion to Critters of Red Heart, The Winged Ones II, a book of butterflies published by the author in 2016.