Stamps for bees

2009 has been a year for lots of anniversaries. Galileo. Darwin. The Internet. The Berlin Wall. And now that we’re running out of year, word is starting of next year’s anniversaries. Like L.L. Langstroth’s 200th birthday. So who in the world is L.L. Langstroth?

More birds, fewer bugs

I wonder if I’m paying more attention to the birds because it’s time to resign myself to not seeing any Monarch butterflies this year. I saw plenty of other big orange and yellow butterflies, but not one monarch, not even in passing. What happened to them?

123, yet another bee

Yet another little black bee turned up in the asters. I have the name of the species, Lasioglossum coriaceum. but that’s it.

Ode to asters

Oh, asters, wild asters, beloved of bees. You tumble down hill and sway on the breeze.

More bumbles, more goldenrod

Here it is the end of September, and the goldenrod is still flowering, and the bumblebees are still foraging, and still crowding two or three at once on the same flowers. The bumbles seem less impatient here, taking a long sip before they move on. Such happy bees!

Killer Maggots

Remember the syrphid fly that was laying eggs the other day? Well, they hatched. And the larvae are just that: larval. I mean ladybug larva are pretty cool looking. Even caterpillars can be cute. But this? This is a soulless, horrible maggot. On the bright side, they suck the juice out of aphids. They’re not […]

Hover flies

I keep finding more syrphid flies. These last few days, I’m seeing a lot of yet another kind. Some mornings at least half a dozen of them are checking out the sweet alyssum. They hover and zip aside and hover and zip back and hover and come for a landing on the flowers. This is […]

The bees’ last summer dance party

Don’t tell the bees that summer is ending. They’re still crowding out the butterflies on the butterfly bush. The butterfly bush is where I first met the carpenter bees, and they’re still scaring me whenever I brush by. Yes, it may be hard to be believe but there are bees that scare me. That rattling […]

Fussy bumbles

The Latin name for my bumblebees is Bombus impatiens, and when they’re foraging on raspberry flowers, they really earn their name.

Bee-vouac

The cool weather seems to be confusing the squash plants. Usually the flowers are closed by noon, but this was still wide open to what little sun warmed the gray sky this afternoon. What I wanted to know is whether there were any squash bees inside.