I know what you're thinking. "Ew, I hate earwigs!" But look! It's pollinating! Pollinators are a large and varied group that includes more than just bees and butterflies. Beetles, moths, bats, birds, flies, and yes, earwigs (or as I call them pincher bugs) all play an important role in plant reproduction. Almost everyday I walk around our neighborhood which is really a steep road on the side of Hualalai. Some days, like yesterday, it's sunny and clear. Yesterday was like that and all the bees were buzzing and the butterflies were fluttering. Today the clouds hung low and the air was cool and almost misty. You could feel the mood of the mountains, volcanic energy wrapping around everything. The bees and butterflies were still sleeping and I mostly observed birds and the neighbors horses. On the way back I saw this little guy sipping nectar from the dwarf banana patch that grows wild on the side of my road. The black pincher bug is almost a caricature of the biopolitics of pollinators as we pick and choose which pollinators conserved or not. #plantspollinatorspeople #walkingethnography #gobugs #maia #malamaaina #multispeciesethnography #pollinatorconservation
