Bees and All That Pollen
Look at all the pollen on the Tiny Metallic Sweat Bee Lasioglossum sp Halictidae. It is rolling in the pollen of a California poppy. One never realizes how much pollen there can be in a poppy blossom. At first I couldn't figure out what kind of bee this was until I enlarged the photos. It was so yellow with pollen I almost thought it was a honey bee. The same bee photographed from above. It is covered with so much pollen, you wonder how it can see. A Blue Mining Bee male Andr
Poppy of Troy
This year is the first time we have islands of Poppy of Troy in the garden. And they are quite tall, about fifteen inches. There is another island of Poppy of Troy in the native patch. Honey bees are constantly visiting these poppies. I've never seen honey bees so interested in poppies, as they are these days, specifically in the Poppy of Troy.
Spring Bloom right here
Most people need to travel somewhere to experience the dramatic beauty and colors of Spring Bloom. But luckily many spring and summer plants have reseeded around the garden. In spite of drought conditions, we apparently had enough winter and spring showers to encourage the native plants to grow. I also water some of the plants (not the poppies) with water that I save from washing and steaming vegetables and cooking pasta. The photo above is a closeup of California orange chif
Yellow-faced bumble bee on Verbena De La Mina
How do they do it? This is an overhead view of a Yellow-faced bumble bee Bombus vosnesenskii sipping nectar from a Verbena De La Mina blossom. Look at the full pollen baskets on the bee. Doesn't it make you wonder, just how it's possible aerodynamically for them to fly with such full baskets? The same bee from another angle. See the proportion of the full pollen basket to the bee's body. This is probably one of the reasons why it's easier to take a photo of these cute bees. T
Happy Earth Day!
Observing in the morning those cute Yellow-faced bumble bees Bombus vosnesenskii as they S Q U E E Z E into partially opened poppies. The temperature was still in the low 60's, but the bumble bees are always out fairly early. I watched one of them as it crawled into a Coastal poppy, which wasn't ready to open for the day. You can see two little legs in the poppy. Aha! The bee turned around in the poppy. And... wait for it..... Here it is! Now didn't that look like a yellow eg
Butterflies on the Verbena De La Mina
Late yesterday afternoon I was pleasantly surprised by the visits of two butterflies on the Verbena De La Mina shrub. The beautiful Painted Lady Vanessa cardui arrived first. Verbena De La Mina flower heads are small, but from this butterfly's perspective, the blossoms are the size as its head. Within half an hour, a monarch butterfly arrived. Its wings look somewhat tattered, but that didn't hinder the grace or speed of the butterfly as it zipped through the garden. Here you
Sandhill Skipper on Lambs Ears
Another new sighting in our garden, a Sandhill Skipper Polites sabuleti. How cute it is! This butterfly was flying around the native patch, landing here and there as I watched nearby. It seemed quite small to be a Fiery or Umber Skipper. After referring to my copy of the Field Guide to Butterflies of the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento Valley Regions by Arthur M. Shapiro and Timothy C. Manolis, I figured out that this is a Sandhill Skipper. These little skippers are commonly
Pipevine Swallowtail on the Verbena De La Mina
Wow, what luck! Today in the late afternoon I happened to look out the window at the front yard. I saw constant fluttering around the Verbena De La Mina shrub, and realized it was a butterfly. Not having a clue just what kind of butterfly I was observing, I grabbed the camera and clicked away through the window. Later, when consulting the Field Guide to Butterflies by Arthur M. Shapiro and TImothy D. Manolis, I learned that the butterfly visitor was a female California Pipevi
Spring blooms and secret gardens
Every day I poke around our garden, looking for new blooms. This is what greets the eye when one of our back gates is opened. The plants are are mostly native with a few non-natives. California natives here from left to right are Blue Bush Lupine, Chiapas Salvia, Bush Monkey flower and Heuchera Maxima (the tiny white bells to the far right). Non-native is the Abutilon striatum (Red vein Indian mallow). A view of part of our Spring Bloom in the front yard includes California C
Ivory Banded Digger Bees
This afternoon an Ivory Banded Digger Bee male Anthophora californica spent a lot of time around the Pozo Blue salvia plant. As you can see, I didn't cut back any of the dried flowerheads or stems remaining from last year. One never knows if birds need to eat the seeds, or if any insects needed stems for overwintering quarters. I only realized when I blew up this shot that there were two males interested in the plant, the one flying in the center, and the other, facing the ca
