The Monarch Butterflies are back!
At last! Hopeful signs on the milkweed! I spotted a monarch butterfly flying over the patio sometime in June, and hoped it was a female...
A Chestnut-Backed Chickadee visits
Aha! Finally caught some photos of a chestnut-backed chickadee. This happened by chance. I was standing with the camera on our patio...
Another Leaf Cutting Bee Sighting
The leaf cutting bees Megachile Latreille have been busy in the native patch for several weeks now, and I've observed them on the...
Wool Carder Bee female making a fiber ball for her nest
Aha! Captured this female Wool Carder bee Anthidium manicatum making a fiber ball from a lambs ear. Good timing for me, although the...
Sing a lullaby for the sleeping Yellow-Faced Bumble Bees
This was the scene a couple of evenings ago in our front yard, a slumber party for the Yellow-Faced Bumble Bees Bombus vosnesenskii ! In...
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...
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...
