First sighting of a Summer Long-Horned Bee
So exciting! The Summer Long-Horned Bees are back! This Summer Long-horned Bee male Melissodes robustior was perched on top of a dried...
California Towhee fledgling visiting
Fledglings are always so cute to observe. You can tell they are not quite adults, not only from the partially still fluffy plumage, but...
Monarch Butterfly laying Eggs on Milkweed
The potted native milkweed plants have awakened from their dormant period, some rising faster than the others. I'm trying to focus more...
Another Anise Swallowtail visits
These are such beautiful butterflies, that in the past years just flew through our garden. But the Verbena De La Mina shrub is a big...
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...
Spring Bloom right here
Most people need to travel somewhere to experience the dramatic beauty and colors of Spring Bloom. But luckily many spring and summer...
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...
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...
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...
