bees in the bay breeze

The wool carder bees are back! And when they are not being territorial about their favorite flowers, chasing away other bees, they can be very cute. It seems as if just when the native plants start to bloom, more and more bees appear regularly in the garden.

Now that the California Figwort Scrophularia californica is blooming again, the hummingbirds have another nectar source in our plant beds around the patio. Next to the figwort we have Hummingbird sage Salvia spathacea, Chiapas sage, Minnie Mouse cuphea, Hot Lips sage, and an India fire abutilon.

Oh, the front garden is looking so good now. No wonder it is full of bees now. In the foreground are lambs ears, behind them are a Margarita BOP penstemon and a native grass. Behind them are the Ray Hartman Ceanothus on the left, Berzerkeley salvia, Mexican salvia and a Tea tree in full bloom. California poppies and the Verbena De La Mina shrub.

Another unusual visitor in the backyard, a Spotted Towhee. At first, because of the colors of the bird's feathers, I thought this was an American robin having a bath. But robins have white rings around their eyes, so this bird was a mystery to me until I identified it through the Cornell Institute's website https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Spotted_Towhee/ The towhee enjoyed splashing in the bath before flying away. Here it is checking out the area before it took flight.

A rare sighting, a Rufous hummingbird visiting the plants around the patio. Usually Anna's hummingbirds are the only ones we see around our garden, so imagine my surprise to notice this one. At first it looked like an Anna's hummingbird because of the green on its back feathers. Since I observed the hummingbird through a screen door, and also took the photo through the screen, I couldn't really tell if it was an Anna's hummingbird or Rufous. It spent a lot of the time around

It's sheer delight to observe daily the Yellow-Faced Bumble Bees as they visit their favorite nectar and pollen sources in the garden. As soon as the California poppies started to bloom, these wonderful bees made their appearance. Lots and lots of poppies to visit. Let's not forget about the lavender! And look at the red pollen in this one's pollen baskets.

At last, another visit from a Yellow-Faced Bumble Bee Bombus vosnesenskii ! Ever since I read that this bee is now considered endangered, I've been diligently checking our garden every afternoon, when the temperature tends to be warmer, hoping to see one of these bees. Up until this year, these were the first bees I would see in the spring. And they would visit throughout the day. Early this spring I did notice one very large Yellow-Faced Bumble Bee flying high above the back