A Chestnut-Backed Chickadee visits
Aha! Finally caught some photos of a chestnut-backed chickadee. This happened by chance. I was standing with the camera on our patio...
Another Leaf Cutting Bee Sighting
The leaf cutting bees Megachile Latreille have been busy in the native patch for several weeks now, and I've observed them on the...
Wool Carder Bee female making a fiber ball for her nest
Aha! Captured this female Wool Carder bee Anthidium manicatum making a fiber ball from a lambs ear. Good timing for me, although the...
Sing a lullaby for the sleeping Yellow-Faced Bumble Bees
This was the scene a couple of evenings ago in our front yard, a slumber party for the Yellow-Faced Bumble Bees Bombus vosnesenskii ! In...
A glorious Sunset
This is the sky at sunset, as seen from our window a couple of days ago. No, there aren't any forest fires raging nearby. And the air...
A visiting Pale Swallowtail Butterfly
Yesterday afternoon we were honored to have a Pale Swallowtail Papilio eurymedon spend a while resting on a blackberry leaf above the...
The monarchs earlier this month
As you may remember from my post early this month, we were fortunate to have a monarch mama visit the backyard in May, and lay eggs on...
Bewick's Wren fledglings
One afternoon last week I heard the familiar chatter, screech and trills of Bewick Wrens. But there were also some other cheeping sounds....
California Bumble Bee on a De La Mina Verbena blossom
Another first in our garden - a California Bumble Bee Bombus californicus ! I was doing my usual thing, walking around the garden with my...
Ooh, Leaf Cutter Bees are back
And what a fuzzy one this leaf cutter megachile bee is. It is collecting pollen from the face of a Serpentine Sunflower Helianthus...
