CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 22/10/2025Super rare that I Merlin picks up not one but two birds to add to my life list. Horned Lark and Purple Finch feels like the name of secret agents, maybe even time travelers who are sworn enemies with just a wisp of intimacy between them. 000
CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 12/10/2025If my research idea comes to fruition, books on seeds will be joining the books on bees on my shelf. 🤓 Not quite a seed book, but I hear amazing things about Botany of Empire. 020
CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 30/09/2025My harvest of dragon tongue beans to replant next year. I started off with just 7 seeds that I brought up with me from Florida to Vermont, and after growing them out and saving the seeds I now have a couple hundred to give away. 💜 000
CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 11/09/2025My okra harvest as of late. I think I’ve officially grown more okra than anything else. 030
CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 21/08/2025Special shout out to Southwestern Research Station in Portal, Arizona. Such a gorgeous place! 041
CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 29/07/2025I really do love how simple phone photography can be with its point, shoot, and crop aspects. As much as I would love an amazing DSLR, I’m really starting to just want an upgraded phone camera lens more. #bugsky 140
CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 17/07/2025Started reading “Bite by Bite” by Aimee Nezhukumatathil, a book about that explores the way food and drink evoke our associations and remembrances. It is such a beautiful read and highly recommended. #booksky 1294
CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 15/07/2025Lassioglossums always have a way of showing up and showing out whenever I want to take photos of bees. 🙂 #bugsky 040
CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 15/06/2025Ive gone from never being able to really take a good photo of these agapostemon to taking this amazing video. I love these flying gemstones. 💚🐝 #bugsky 091
CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 23/05/2025I’ve never thought so much about a graphic novel after reading it as much as I’ve thought of this one. @igotkittypryde.bsky.social did such an amazing job with this. 141
CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 09/04/2025Presenting some research to the Vermont House Ag Committee tomorrow. Peep the tie 😎🐝 030
CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 26/03/2025I’ve got some food systems reading to do in my near future! #booksky 📚 070
CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 02/03/2025Little homesick for the natural beauty of Florida’s swamps, but I’m slowly adjusting to Vermont’s seemingly unending winter. Enjoy this photo I took last spring of the zebra longwing (Heliconius charitonius), Florida's official state butterfly. 030
CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 11/02/2025Picked up these two amazing books at the university library and they are such a pleasant read on snowy days like today. #booksky 050
CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 06/02/2025Enjoy this spider! One of the first insect photos I took here in VT over the summer. #invertebrates #bugsky 1171
CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 04/02/2025When I took this photo over the summer, I didn’t know what kind of bee this was, and completely misidentified it when I first saw it. Now I know it’s a Melissodes bimaculatus, the two-spotted longhorn bee and one of my favorites(they are all kinda my favorite) 😅 #gardensky #plantsky 0111
CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 02/02/2025Hoping one day to get a chance to see these Oak Ridge Lupine(Lupinus diffusus) again. 💙 000
CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 01/02/2025Two summers ago I took this photo in my best friend’s front yard. She has a Dutchman’s Pipe Vine who’s flower looks like a portal to another world, it also hosts the Gold Rim Swallowtail (Battus polydamas). The two of them are said to have coevolved together before time immemorial. 140
CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 31/01/2025Took this photo at a farm called Sweetwater in Tampa. Vibes there are S-Tier! Syngamia florella, the orange-spotted flower moth Unlike many moths, Syngamia florella is diurnal, meaning it is active during the day, much like butterflies. This behavior is common in moths with bright warning colors. 030
CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 30/01/2025The fiery skipper (Hylephila phyleus). Fiery skippers, along with most other species of skippers and skipperlings(love this name), can hold their wings in a "triangle" shape. This position is thought to better absorb the sun's rays, and rays from my heart because I love them. 150
CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 29/01/2025I suspect that the nectar from porterweeds must be exceptionally good. Pollinators like this long tailed skipper(Urbanus proteus) often would pay me no mind when I filmed them up close with my phone. 080
CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 28/01/2025Leptotes cassius, the Cassius Blue. When I captured this photo, I hadn’t yet realized that plant-pollinator interactions would become such a central focus in my life, but I vividly remember the pure joy of witnessing this moment and feeling the urge to share it with all my farm friends. 🦋 151
CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 24/01/2025Reminiscing about the time I planted some asters at a farm and caught a photo of a bloom visited by this scoliid wasp. I’ve read that Dielis plumipes perform a unique shimmering display by rapidly vibrating their wings, which reflects sunlight and may be used in thermoregulation or communication. 💟 070
CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 11/01/2025I probably won’t be able to start these two before the next semester starts, but I’ll definitely go through these two as slow reads throughout the next couple of months. #booksky 140
CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 07/01/2025Still a long way away, but I’m ready for winter to be over. Im ready to plant all the wildflowers, see all the pollinators, and grow all the food. Let’s go already. 020
CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 29/12/2024My winter break of reading continues. This is such a gorgeous book inside and out. Highly recommend if you’re at all interested in native/wild bees. This book is pretty focused on the UK, but still full of great information. #booksky #gardening 040
CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 24/12/2024Your book is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever read @jarodkanderson.bsky.social ❤️ 160
CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 19/12/2024Was just listening to your talk on Cultivating Backyard Habitat for Pollinators @dlnarango.bsky.social and just wanted to share with you my Atala pictures from last year when I was doing my undergrad at USF. We planted so many Coontie at the USF Botanical Gardens and they were super abundant. 😊 380
CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 01/12/2024Native bees are my jam, but the whole #Hymenoptera order is pretty amazing! Please enjoy this Dielis plumipes on a Climbing Aster. #nativeplants #bugsky 0102
CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 25/11/2024A year ago today was my first and last ever sighting of a Queen Butterfly. 😊 060
CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 23/11/2024As much as I love photographing bees, butterflies are so much easier. Some gems from my time in Florida. #butterflies #butterfly #garden 160
CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 22/11/2024Anyone else have a relatively hard time capturing photos of agapostemon while they are foraging? It took me forever to snap a solid photo of one outside of a lab setting. 1120
CJ Sands @cjsands.bsky.social · 21/11/2024First Blue Sky postings. I’m excited to have a place to talk about bees! 030