Wool Carder bee at work
The European Wool Carder bees Anthidium manicatum are back in the garden. I have observed several busily collecting for their nests...
Bees and All That Pollen
Look at all the pollen on the Tiny Metallic Sweat Bee Lasioglossum sp Halictidae. It is rolling in the pollen of a California poppy. One...
Poppy of Troy
This year is the first time we have islands of Poppy of Troy in the garden. And they are quite tall, about fifteen inches. There is...
Yellow-faced bumble bee on Verbena De La Mina
How do they do it? This is an overhead view of a Yellow-faced bumble bee Bombus vosnesenskii sipping nectar from a Verbena De La Mina...
Happy Earth Day!
Observing in the morning those cute Yellow-faced bumble bees Bombus vosnesenskii as they S Q U E E Z E into partially opened poppies. The...
Butterflies on the Verbena De La Mina
Late yesterday afternoon I was pleasantly surprised by the visits of two butterflies on the Verbena De La Mina shrub. The beautiful...
Sandhill Skipper on Lambs Ears
Another new sighting in our garden, a Sandhill Skipper Polites sabuleti. How cute it is! This butterfly was flying around the native...
Pipevine Swallowtail on the Verbena De La Mina
Wow, what luck! Today in the late afternoon I happened to look out the window at the front yard. I saw constant fluttering around the...
Ivory Banded Digger Bees
This afternoon an Ivory Banded Digger Bee male Anthophora californica spent a lot of time around the Pozo Blue salvia plant. As you can...
Pollinators are our secret weapon
Photo by Michelle D'urbano A great article in New Scientist, about the unappreciated, critical role pollinators play when it comes to...
