Thanks Beverly!
As soon as I get around to checking out the 200 or so pics that I took of the Monarchs on the Liatris (that I have *finally* acquired and grown for them
) and hopefully find a few decent ones and choose a favorite, I will submit it for a moment of spotlight on the front page
Interesting, this issue of database photos.
I found the thread
and apparently whatever Robin said is gone???
Well, we are all lovers of pollinators here, right? and photos of them doing their thing...so perhaps heavily biased audience in this thread, but I have opinions on the subject which I will share here.
Personally, I think that the thumbnail of any plant would ideally be something iconic of that particular plant, a bloom portrait for most flowers, foliage for foliage plants, a fruit portrait for fruits etc., but in many cases an entire plant photo is great, and even better than a single feature. Certainly, there are circumstances where a truly iconic photo of a butterfly- or bee-magnet type plant will feature one or more of the attracted guests and I think that is a fine thing myself.
This is currently the thumbnail for the Liatris
Great shot! Nothing wrong with it at all. Lots of other great plant pics featuring butterflies as well, and I hope to add one or two myself, soon.
But, what I will try not to do is choose one that is a fantastic portrait of the butterfly wherein the plant is essentially irrelevant in the photo...like this one
(but--I'll put it here because omg! look at that handsome fella would ya
)
(and please forgive me for the bee pic--that was just so darn cool I could not resist for echie week--I tried to atone with many other beeless pics)
Anyway--the database is an absolutely amazing monster of growing potential.
Imagine the resource fifteen years from now--
I think it would be wonderful if there was a way to capture the data of our insects, by geography, over time, on our plants, in our gardens. And I don't just mean the pretty, desirable ones. A bug database or concurrent bug pages ? is a wonderful idea, but without a few dedicated entomologists I don't know how the millions could be populated, identified, and managed. If we ever get the feature where we can include unnamed plants and bugs and whatever in our own plant lists, that could be a start to collecting the data--maybe someday it could be merged and managed, you never know.
Meanwhile, the prejudice against pics of pollinators -and other bugs- is a thing and usually the conversation revolves around the thumbnail photo.
I understand that unless there is an overide to select a specific photo, the most thumbed image is the thumbnail.
Having a category for insects and then excluding that category could alleviate the concern but it would also eliminate some great photos from thumbnail contention,
like this one
Arguably not the best photo of 'Mainacht', but that shot is lightening in a bottle right there I tell you! The bloom is not obscured
and it represents the spring salvia bee party quite well, thank you
--and that was one that I almost didn't submit because I was afraid to put one in with bees.
Now I will admit that I went a little overboard after that and starting polluting the database with bees, and dragonflies, but for the most part I have knocked that off and I just pollute the thread
And this picture
Really, I don't think we want to deprive ourselves or our database of this level of wondrous art.
I hope we can collectively maintain tolerance for and appreciation of the less clinical submissions.
If the issue is really about the thumbnail, maybe folks could thumb the pictures they would rather see there?
