- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Have you ever seen the defensive antics of a female longhorned bee, sometimes called a sunflower bee, as she's trying to forage on flowers while a suitor is trying to get her attention? (To mate with her)
Such is the case in our family's pollinator garden as the activity on, around, above and below the Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia rotundifola) becomes fast and furious.
The female Melissodes agilis kicks a leg up as if to say "Go away! I'm not interested! Quit bothering me!" but a male posse persists.
Finally, the female will buzz off for another flower (escape!) but not for long. Here they come again!
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Get off my turf!
The native bees known as Melissodes, the longhorned bees, start stirring in the early morning. First, they settle on a leaf or flower to warm up their flight muscles. Once ready to fly, they don't let up until late afternoon.
We look forward to seeing them forage and battle one another in our Mexican sunflower (Tithonia rotundifola) patch, a key part of our Vacaville pollinator garden.
The males are extremely territorial and try to bop other insects off "their" flowers. That includes bumble bees, butterflies and males of their species. Sometimes they aim for a spider or praying mantis on their real estate. Sometimes they lose. Why are the males such bee boppers? To protect their turf, according to the lateRobbinThorp, UC Davis distinguished emeritus professor. They are trying to save the resources for the females per chance to mate with them.
If you have a camera that will allow you to set a fast shutter speed, such as 1/8000 of a second, sometimes you can freeze the action. Otherwise, they are an elongated blur as they whiz by, seemingly faster than the proverbial "speeding bullet."
The book, California Bees and Blooms, a Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists (Heydey 2014), co-authored by University of California scientists, offers a closer look at Melissodes.
California is home to more than "1600 hundred species of undomesticated bees—most of them native—that populate and pollinate our gardens, fields, and urban green spaces," according to the authors (Gordon Frankie, Robbin Thorp (1933-2019), Rollin Coville and Barbara Ertter.) They explored 22 most common genera (and six species of cuckoo bees), describing each one's distinctive behaviors, social structures, flight season, preferred flowers, and enemies.
One of them is the Melissodes agilis that we find in our garden.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
A perfect match: a bumble bee foraging on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola.
Lately we've been observing a bumble bee, identified as a maleCalifornia bumble bee, Bombus californicus, sipping nectar from the colorful orange blooms in our Vacaville pollinator garden.
B. californicus is one of 27 bumble species recorded in California, according to the four University of California authors of California Bees and Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists, published in 2014 by Heyday. Gordon Frankie, Robbin Thorp, Barbara Ertter and Rollin Coville co-authored the book. Thorp (1933-2019), distinguished emeritus professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, also co-authored Bumble Bees of North America: An Identification Guide, published in 2014 by the Princeton University Press.
Worldwide, there are 250 species in the genus Bombus. The most common bumbles we see are the yellow-faced bumble bee, B. vosnesenkii; the black-tailed bumble bee, B. melanopygus; and the California bumble bee (no yellow hairs on its face).
In California, bumble bees "are most common and diverse in the North Coast and Sierra-Cascade ranges," the authors wrote. They identified a total of 10 in urban gardens, but only three (the ones we see) are common.
"The ability of bumble bees to buzz-pollinate certain high-value crops, such as greenhouse tomatoes, has led to recent introductions from Europe to many areas of the world where they previously did not exist, especially B. terrestris, the Large Earth Bumble Bee."
If you spot a bumble bee in California, the California Bumble Bee Atlas wants to know. "Launched in 2022, the California Bumble Bee Atlas is a collaborative community science effort to track and conserve the state's native bumble bee species," according to its website. ? The group is hosting a Bumble Bee Atlas Survey Bio Blitz July 28-30. Check out the Facebook page.
You can also load your images on iNaturalist.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Where are all the monarchs? Not in our pollinator garden here in Vacaville.
Milkweed? Check.
Floral resources? Check.
Praying mantids? No. (Haven't seen any, but they're out there!)
Birds? Yes. (Nesting California scrub jays eat their fill of caterpillars, mainly Gulf Fritillary 'cats.)
Shade? Yes. (Crepe myrtles and cherry laurels await.)
Monarchs? No. (Danaus plexippus, where are you?)
On previous Fourths of July, monarchs fluttered, nectared, and eclosed in our pollinator garden.
Today, July 4, 2023, we celebrate our nation's birthday, and yes, it's "Hurrah for the Red, White and Blue!"
However, we are s-o looking forward to "Hurray for the Black and Orange!"
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
So here's this crab spider stalking a katydid nymph foraging on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola.
Dinner awaits!
Suddenly a native bee, Melissodes agilis, lands next to the katydid and begins to sip some nectar.
Decisions, decisions! Do I want a juice katydid nymph or a tasty long-horned bee? Do I have a choice in the matter or does it matter if I have a choice?
A moment in time. Time in a moment. The bee, unaware of danger, continues to forage. Then, abruptly, the bee takes flight.
One menu choice remains.
It was a good day for the crab spider.
It was not a good day for the katydid.