The more you know about bugs, the less they will bug you

"When you're at the top of the food chain you have a vested interest in keeping the bottom of the food chain healthy," entomologist Sharon Collman said as she scanned the shrubbery for insects.

So experienced is she that a flash of wing or the tiniest leaf movement is a giveaway.

"When some people hear I've found 3,000 to 4,000 species in my own Lake City backyard they'll say, 'I'm going to spray!' But I tell them they've been there all along, you haven't noticed them, and they haven't done you any harm — more likely they've done you well ... Hey! Did you see that little green bee!?"

Under the indisputable blue of a Seattle September sky, we were on an insect-viewing mission at the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture. This is prime bug territory, with five acres of gardens plus the adjacent 70 acres of the Union Bay Natural Area bordering Lake Washington. Fall is a good time to explore the largest group of animals in the world. At this time of year, many members of the class Insecta have reached their adult stage, making them easier to identify, and at lower elevations bugs generally become more active past the heat of high summer.

Although I wasn't speedy enough to glimpse the little green bee, the perennial flower beds west of Merrill Hall hummed with a remarkable diversity of winged creatures: Among them were bumblebees — legs swollen with pollen "chaps" — honeybees, paper wasps and syrphid flies. Also called hover flies, many species in this group are camouflaged in "Danger!" stripes to mimic stinging insects and are beneficial to gardeners because of their taste for aphids.

Fear not

"Learning about insects frees you from fear," Collman said, as we watched a crane fly move along the ground at our feet. "People are afraid of these guys because they look like giant mosquitoes, but they have no mouth parts and are here mostly to mate and die." When you know that yellow jackets have bad eyesight, you learn to lose a too-attentive individual by walking away, spinning around and returning to where you started.

Sensing hidden wonders in the field of dry weeds flanking Wahkiakum Lane — the main path through the natural area — Collman swept her insect net across the tops of flower heads, yielding a container full of critters. All scurrying for an exit were several spider species (arachnids, not insects), thrips (tiny black slivers that frequent dandelion blossoms), leaf hoppers and froghoppers (grown-up spittlebugs) — named for their Olympian leaping ability.

Collman, a 30-year veteran of Washington State University Extension specializing in horticulture and integrated pest management, is struck by a general shift in public insect awareness. Three decades ago people would routinely ask, "How can I kill it?" These days the most common question is whether it's a good bug or a bad bug. Approximately 95 percent of our six-legged citizens are considered beneficial or neutral, with the remaining five percent deemed pests by humans (think yellow jackets, tent caterpillars, and root weevils).

Collman spends much of her time working with the nursery industry, but her passion lies in getting the general public — especially kids — to understand the undervalued swarming among us and eradicate common insect myths.

Crickets sound off

As we continued along the trail, crickets gave a "last rays of summer" concert as goldfinches danced The Pogo-stick overhead. We stopped at Shoveler's Pond — dry this time of year — to look for caterpillars on willows, one of Collman's favorite insect trees. Instead, on a clump of asters nearby we found a ladybeetle, a bright-orange soldier beetle, a grasshopper, two dancing woodland skippers, and a damselfly.

"You usually find what you're not looking for," admitted Collman, who has chased bugs since childhood, and is a founding member of the nearly 30-year-old Scarab Society — Seattle's insect-lovers group, which welcomes the general public to its monthly meetings.

For a beginner, trying to pinpoint one species among hundreds of choices can be disheartening, so if you're stumped, freeze the specimen to kill it, pack it carefully, and send it to Collman. She's seeking insects of all sorts for a pet project, the Puget Sound Entomological Survey. This satellite to the most comprehensive insect collection in the state (at Washington State University in Pullman) will help Collman establish a baseline of what's here. This knowledge will help her identify invasive species early on and speed up bug ID queries from the general public.

In addition to using a net (an inexpensive toy-store version will do), Collman suggests two other simple collection methods. Open a pizza box beneath a bush and shake the plant to see who falls out; compare daytime and nighttime discoveries. Or try a pitfall trap: Bury a small plastic container (about 3 inches deep) in the soil up to its rim. In the morning, check for ground beetles, which can't climb the slippery sides.

But the only tools you really need, you already have.

"Go find a flower patch on a nice day, sit still and watch," urges Collman. "You don't have to know the language, you can do this from a wheelchair, you can be any age ... Watching bugs is a simple, peaceful activity that can help people find balance in this frenetic world."

With this noble goal in mind, we ambled off toward the marshy areas at the edge of the lake to look for dragonflies.

Freelance writer Kathryn True, of Vashon Island, is a regular contributor to Northwest Weekend. Contact her through her Web site: www.kathryntrue.com

If you go

Take an insect safari

Where

We looked for insects around the Center for Urban Horticulture and the Union Bay Natural Area, 3501 N.E. 41st St., Seattle; 206-543-8616 or http://depts.washington.edu/urbhort.

Other buggy spots

You can start in your own backyard, but Sharon Collman also recommends these area parks as happy hunting grounds for insect investigators:

• Coal Creek Park, Bellevue

• Kelsey Creek Park, Bellevue

• McCollum Pioneer Park, Everett

Upcoming event

The Scarab Society hosts its free Bug Jam, 7-9 p.m. Monday, Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, rear loading dock entrance, Northeast 45th Street at 17th Avenue Northeast, University of Washington campus, Seattle. Newcomers and established members will share their summer bug experiences. More information: 206-543-9853 or e-mail collmans@wsu.edu.

Mystery bug?

For insect identification help, contact Collman at 425-357-6025 or collmans@wsu.edu.

Resources and reading

A great first insect book, especially for children, is "The Golden Guide to Insects" (St. Martin's Press). For more details, see "Simon & Schuster's Guide to Insects."

Two of Collman's favorite insect-loving authors make bug science fun; check out May Berenbaum and Sue Hubbell.