Posts Tagged: lavender
Why It's Called a 'Boys' Night Out'
Ever seen the male longhorned bees, Melissodes agilis, zipping around your garden, trying to bump all critters, large and small, off of "their" blossoms? They own them, ya' know. These male bees are SO territorial. We've seen them target honey...
A horizontal view of male Melissodes bees sleeping on a lavender stem. Image taken just after dawn in a Vacaville pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
What's up, sleepy head? A sleepy male Melissodes agilis bee begins to stir at dawn. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Bee and a Butterfly: Sharing a Lavender Blossom
Ever seen a honey bee and a butterfly sharing a lavender blossom? Just in time for National Pollinator Week, June 17-23, we saw this today. What could be more pollinator friendly than that? The honey bee, Apis mellifera, and the Gulf...
A Gulf Fritillary and a honey bee sharing the same lavender blossom in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Battle Over the Lavender: Mine, All Mine!
A yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, is foraging on lavender in a Vacaville garden. Abruptly, the bumble bee senses a fast-approaching honey bee, Apis mellifera. Bombus: "Hey, bee, this is my territory, my...
A yellow-face bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, is interrupted by a fast-approaching honey bee as it's nectaring on lavender in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Return of Bombus
The English lavender drew her in. And there she was, a yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, foraging in our family's pollinator garden in Vacaville. She buzzed from blossom to blossom, ignoring the honey bees, syrphid flies...
A yellow-faced Bombus vosnesenskii, prepares to sip nectar from an English lavender. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, sipping nectar.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Side view of the yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, departs. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Happy Friday Fly Day--from a Golden Goddess
Thar's gold in them thar hills, and then there's that ol' golden dung fly, Scathophaga stercoraria. It's a red-eyed blond that definitely demands your attention. You can find the larvae--if you're looking for it and know where to...
A golden dung fly, Scathophaga stercoraria, perched on a lavender in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)