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Posts Tagged: sunflowers
Catch of the Day
It's early morning and the spider is hungry. It snares a honey bee foraging for pollen and nectar in a patch of Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia rotundifola) in a Vacaville pollinator garden. The spider slides down the sticky web, kills...
An orbweaver snares a honey bee in its sticky web in a patch of Mexican sunflowers, Tithonia rotundifola, in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Tiny freeloader flies (family Milichiidae) grab their share. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
So Bee It...
The honey bees love it. So do the long-horned bees, bumble bees, carpenter bees, European paper wasps, syrphid flies, butterflies, blister beetles, spotted cucumber beetles, crab spiders, praying mantids, and assorted other insects. The Mexican...
A honey bee heads toward a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifolia, in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Ah, this Mexican sunflower is all mine. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
It pays to keep a lookout while you're foraging on the ever-popular Mexican sunflower, genus Tithonia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Joy of Rearing Monarchs Is Releasing Them
Oh, the joy of rearing monarchs...from an egg to a caterpillar to a chrysalis to an adult... However, the ultimate joy is not in rearing them, but releasing them--from their confined and well-protected indoor habitat to that Spectacular Spacious World...
This newly eclosed female monarch just wants to linger. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A newly released monarch nectaring on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) next to a bird house, a replica of a barn. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A monarch butterfly has its choice of Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Close-up of a newly released monarch nectaring on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Boys' Night Out
By day, they fly around our yard looking for the girls. At night, it's "Boys' Night Out." These males, longhorned digger bees, Melissodes agilis (as identified by native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis),...
These males are longhorned digger bees, Melissodes agilis, sleeping on a lavender stem. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A male longhorned bee, Melissodes agilis, stirs after the warmth of the sun awakens him. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Side view of male longhorned bee, Melissodes agilis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The State Fair: Bees, Butterflies and Sunflowers
Bees, butterflies and sunflowers at the California State Fair? Yes. The state fair, which opened July 12 and ends July 28, is a good place to see a bee observation hive, honey bees on sunflowers, carpenter bees on petunias, and butterflies in the...
Sunflowers grow as high as an elephant's eye at the California State Fair. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Beekeeper Doug Houck of the Sacramento Area Beekeepers' Association and his daugher, Rebekah Houck, at the beekeepers' booth in the Expo Center. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Butterfly specimens in the Insect Pavilion. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A female Valley carpenter bee working a petunia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
