The monarchs earlier this month
As you may remember from my post early this month, we were fortunate to have a monarch mama visit the backyard in May, and lay eggs on...
Bewick's Wren fledglings
One afternoon last week I heard the familiar chatter, screech and trills of Bewick Wrens. But there were also some other cheeping sounds....
California Bumble Bee on a De La Mina Verbena blossom
Another first in our garden - a California Bumble Bee Bombus californicus ! I was doing my usual thing, walking around the garden with my...
Ooh, Leaf Cutter Bees are back
And what a fuzzy one this leaf cutter megachile bee is. It is collecting pollen from the face of a Serpentine Sunflower Helianthus...
Lovely Cabbage White blending in with Blossom
At first glance doesn't this look like an exotic flower with a lot of petals? That's what I thought at first until I realized that the...
Carpenter Bee approaching Mystic Spires Salvia
My what big eyes you have! This is a male California Carpenter Bee Xylocopa californica. There is some pollen caught on its hairs. In...
A Masked Bee Female in the Garden
I'm very excited to have observed for the first time in the garden a masked bee Hylaeus rudbeckiae. This one is a female on the blossom...
Wool Carder Bees settled in for the summer
The wool carder bees Anthidium manicatum are back in full force, now that the lambs ears are blooming. Although they forage for nectar...
The friendly Umber Skipper
Another cheerful Umber Skipper Poanes melane in the garden, this time perched on the top of a Chiapas flower stem. There are many of...
Ivory Banded Digger Bee - first featured star of Pollinator Week
All hail the mighty little Ivory Banded Digger Bee Anthophora urbana ! These solitary bees nest i the soil, often in flat, bare ground....
