Sleeping in the garden

Because I'm so thrilled that our garden has become a Bed & Breakfast for Summer Long-horned male bees, every evening and morning for the past week and a half I have been photographing them.

They sleep on the same stem of one of our nude buckwheat plants.

The stem is tall and long, located within a patch of golden California poppies and next to a large California sagebrush.

The sagebrush, which is at least four feet tall, is providing a good windbreak from our breezes with occasional gusts.

Here they are in the morning of July 1st, beginning to stir as the temperature gradually rose above 56 degrees Fahrenheit.

The previous night was particularly gusty, and I suspect this little guy got blown off from the group to a California poppy just below the buckwheat branch.

See how his little hind foot is grabbing onto the edge of one of the petals.

Meanwhile a Thick-headed fly was also sleeping in the same area of the native garden, on top of a California poppy which was about to shrug off its hat.

The Thick-headed fly is an enemy of the bumblebee.

But a native garden is habitat for all insects.

Even the enemies have their place in the ecosystem.