Filed under: bees, insects | Tags: b-boy, bees, dance, entomology, insects, nature, silly
since this blog is all about bees….
Filed under: animals, bees, insects, nature, photography | Tags: animals, bees, entomology, flowers, gardens, insects, nature, photography
today’s bees are very smalllll.
to illustrate how small these bees are i have taken a shot with a ball point pen next to the flower for reference.
see? smallll.
here it alights in the shade of a flower:
and here it says, …”GET ‘ER DONE!”
i think it is a lasioglossum, but buzzybeegirl will probably have to correct me on that.
Filed under: animals, bees, insects, nature, wildlife | Tags: animals, bees, entomology, insects, ligustica, meliflura, nature, photography, wildlife
bees. there was some heated debate here at the blog regarding these bees. and by heated….i mean 2 to 3 comments. ligustica….or a ligustica meliflura hybrid? one is safe, one deadly.
but the bees are pretty. and i have learned that the later in the day you catch them, the bigger their pollen sacks are. ooh. . . that sounds weird.
if you’re interested in learning more about bees, please visit buzzy’s site.
and if you’re interested in the conservation of bees, please understand that what you eat, where you buy, etc. all have an impact on our critters, but more importantly…the conservation of our critters has an impact on us.
Filed under: insects, nature | Tags: cilantro, entomology, fire pit, honey, insects, nature, stars, wooden nickel
tonight’s writing challenge involves these tags: fire pit, honey, wooden nickel, cilantro, stars
i am a fire pit. bright and welcoming under the late night stars. in the morning kind of a pile of ashes.
black light party time is coming. fire pit season is on it’s way. we’ll meet at my house after dark, set up the lights, pop open some beers and wait for the night life to fly in. transparent wings and round, protruding eyes. i can’t wait!

entomologist...with beers
i’ll be tired the mornings after, but wake up while at work and rush home to photograph the dogs and the resident bees. (mind you, these aren’t honey bees. they’re native bees. they won’t kill me, i swear!)

cinnamon flavored bug
for snacks i’ll make a salad with black beans, corn, cumin, cilantro, balsamic vinigar and red onions. . . but. . . bella and buzzy will eat pentatomid bugs instead.
save up your wooden nickels and you can buy into the fun. primordial night life. flying things in your hair. pickles herding beetles.
(tags i’m leaving…at your convenience: accidents, usb, being john malkovich)
Filed under: animals, bees, insects, nature | Tags: animals, bees, biology, entomology, insects, life, nature, wildlife
well, hello there! it’s been a few days since i posted…and way too long since i posted about me bees. it started with hundreds of agapostemons on 8/18/08. it was and exciting discovery. we’ve monitored the lovely green metallic bees as their numbers decreased. on from 10/31 to 11/3 there was a solitary bee. just hanging on. all alone. sleeping the nights away.
on 11/4 i went to check on him after the election coverage had died down. he was gone. no more bees. but here was this guy:
a syrphid. a bee mimic. at first i was peeved. had he eaten my bee!? no. had he been keeping his eye on this hot piece of property? of all the millions of tree stems and branches in my back yard…he moved onto my bee branch? why?
i’m sad the agapostemons are gone. they were pretty and having the aggragation was such a rare treat. i’ll never see something like it again…
winter is coming. i’ll miss all the bee action. then spring will arrive and i will have to protect myself from the giant beetles all over again….
i guess i need a rest from all the heavy insect activity.
i’ll post again tomorrow. bye!
Filed under: animals, insects, nature, wildlife | Tags: animals, bugs, entomology, insects, nature, walking stick, wildlife
oooh. rare sighting! i give snaps to my co-volunteer l. for spotting this very special critter.
1. they’re hard to see. 2. there aren’t scads of them swarming about like bees.
cool thing about this guy: when l. found him she said that they were black in the midwest, where she’s from. wow….they’re reddish where i come form and they’re a dusty brown here. what wondrous variety.
so the bunch of us got to chatting about walking stick behavior. here’s the cool thing someone mentioned…when the wind picks up and the tree sways…the walking stick insect feigns a sway as well.
so check it: the bug is like, “dude, the tree is swaying….i have to sway to look like a tree….if i don’t sway…well, then i’ll look like a bug on a tree.”
please note: i’m NOT scared of these bugs. bugs i am not scared of: walking sticks, bees, praying mantis, cactus beetles, leaf legged bugs, lady bugs, scarabs, moths, butterflies, dragonflies.
insects that make me uncomfortable, but that i respect: ants, grasshoppers, millipedes, caterpillars, flies,
insects that scare me, yo!: earwigs, fleas, ticks, centipedes, roaches and the like, spiders (ack!) mosquitos, termites, wasps, crickets!
Filed under: dogs | Tags: agility, buts, catapillar, dogs, entomology, insects, nature, photography, wildlife
welcome sports fans! as many of you know, cody bear and i have taken up the fun dog sport of AGILITY! we’re both addicted!
as you also know, i volunteer each saturday at a local wildlife center. oh my. photoanimal and i found a spunky lil’ C-pillar, yo!
he’s a NATURAL at agility:
now, for those of you who don’t care about agility, but do like insects, here are some c-pillar pix:
gorgeous!