Welcome!

I have always had an interest in the outdoors, taking pictures and acquiring knowledge of what is there. After photographing several species of insects, I needed to identify them and then it just grew. I created this website to share the information that I have acquired and accumulated over the years in hope that the data that I have included will be of use to others. The site includes photos of moths, butterflies, birds, mammals, beetles, true bugs, dragonflies, bees and wasps, flies, and other insect orders. While the site is primarily for Iowa insects and birds, I have included some from trips I have made to other states.

This site is being updated continuously as I collect data and when people furnish information to me. All photos are the copyrighted property of the photographer. Please contact the photographer prior to copying or using any of the photographs on this website.

Click here to view site instructions.

- Jim Durbin
bugmugger187@gmail.com

Need an identification?

Technology is amazing, and with all the hard work put in by the contributors to the dataset presented on this site, we are able to experiment with automatically identifying insect species in photographs. Some non-insect species (birds, plants, spiders, etc) may also be identified, depending on how many photographs are in the data set.Testing thus far, show it to be surprisingly accurate, but the accuracy does depend on the quality of the photograph you submit for ID, as well as how many photographs of the species were in the data set when the training was done. Give it a try, and let us know how well it works for you. Also, don't forget to submit your observations once they are identified.