My name is Sean McCann, and I am a PhD student in biology at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada. I am a passionate amateur photographer and a lover of the outdoors.

I grew up not far from here in Victoria BC, on Vancouver Island, where I also did an undergraduate biology degree at UVic.

My background is in entomology, and I have completed a masters degree in Florida on mosquito reproductive ecology.

This blog will be a place to show some of my photos, communicate my research and my insights, and to reach out to the public at large. For some images that I shoot, I will try to give some details to how the shots were achieved, especially if they used any unusual techniques.

Here is a picture my brother took of me a few years back, with a vacuum device for collecting yellowjackets from their nest….I have much better techniques now!

Somewhere to the right will be a link to my flickr photostream where you can see a selection of my recent images.  I will also try to maintain a blogroll, for pages that catch my fancy and inspire me. As for what else I will put up, well I am not too sure.  I am hoping for suggestions!

As an aside, Ibycter (in the url and blog title) refers to the species that I study, the Red-throated Caracara, a Falconid found from Central America to southern Brazil. Expect to hear much about this species and its environment in the future.

A Red-throated Caracara, in the rainforest of French Guiana. This was shot with a Canon S5IS compact superzoom in 2009.

A large part of what my lab does is chemical ecology of insects.  We study the chemicals that mediate communication, defense, and foraging of all kinds of insects.

Orchid bees are amazingly beautiful insects, often iridecent or boldly striped. The males of these bees are attracted to strong scents, and they reputedly use these to gather up a group of other males, presumably to display to females.

Knowing this, on every field trip to the jungle, I have brought along cotton dental wicks and clove oil. These would serve well should we need to numb a broken tooth in an emergency, but the main purpose was to attract orchid bees.

Watch closely in the video as this male Eufriesea ornata gathers clove oil with his forelegs, transfers it to his midlegs, and finally tucks the fluid into special spongy tissues in his hind tibiae.

Orchid bees don’t only collect nice smelling scents… They are also attracted to foul smelling substances such as carrion and feces.

A male orchid bee gathers feces.
Canon 60D, EF 50 mm macro, f13, undiffused flash from MR14EX macro ring light.

A Robber Fly gets in on that Orchid Bee Look which is so hot right now. Canon 60D EF 70-300 IS. 1/60s F8

These filthy little bastards are beautiful and fun to watch however, so my advice is this:

Next time you go to the Neotropics (south Florida included), bring some methyl salicylcate, clove oil, or cineole and attract those bees!

Euglossa orchid bees are smaller and metallic green…Also a good look.
Canon Powershot S2IS, Raynox DCR250, foam bowl flash diffuser

References:

1. PHYLOGENY AND BIOLOGY OF NEOTROPICAL
ORCHID BEES (EUGLOSSINI)Annu. Rev. Entomol. 2004. 49:377–404

doi: 10.1146/annurev.ento.49.072103.115855

2. ORCHID BEES DON’T NEED ORCHIDS: EVIDENCE FROM THE
NATURALIZATION OF AN ORCHID BEE IN FLORIDA

Ecology, 87(8), 2006, pp. 1995–2001

2006