Let's See Some Bees (and Other Insects) - June 29, 2023

 A lot of pollinator favorites are blooming, or beginning to bloom. Here are some photos from the past few days.

I'll start this post off with a video of Yellow-faced bumblebees in the early morning moth mullein flowers.  It's the best here, so if you look at nothing else, take time for this one!

A honeybee in a daylily.  Honeybees are the bee that gets the most publicity, however it isn't even native to the U.S.  The "Western honey bee," or "European honey bee" is the one used by beekeepers.  It isn't from the west, and it isn't from Europe, it is thought to have originated in Asia or Africa.

Honey bees, or honeybees, aren't the best pollinators, but since they have been domesticated (and easily calmed with smoke), and live in hives, they are more efficient pollinators for cultivated crops.  Native bees are better pollinators, however the majority are solitary bees, not living in colonies. 

Honey bee on rudbeckia or black-eyed Susan.

A native carpenter bee in a daylily. 

Another honey bee on black-eyed Susan.

Honey bee on a blanketflower. 

Yellow-faced bumblebee on a Pow Wow Wild Berry coneflower.   They really are a Wild Pow Wow color in the garden!

Yellow-faced bumblebee on a pink bachelor button. 

This is a Western Boxelder bug.  It is said to not be a pollinator, yet, here is one pollinating.  I guess they aren't drawn to flower pollen, but will eat nectar if their usual boxelder, maple, and ash trees aren't around.  Crawling around on a coreopsis, this one is pollinating, if unintentionally. 

Lots of little pollinators love the strawberry mint flowers right now.  They are hard to see, they are so small!  Lots of hoverflies.

The largest insects here are a wasp and the Flower Longhorn beetle (the Flower is part of its name).  Longhorn beetles eat nectar and pollen, pollinating as they feed.

For all the flowers there are few butterflies.  Cabbage whites, the Pale swallowtail I shared the other day, a Western Tiger swallowtail that flies over every few days only to leave again.  There are skippers, this one in the bright coneflower.  I see I caught something in mid-flight!   What long legs it has.

Last is a video of another Yellow-faced bumblebee in a Pow Wow Wild Berry coneflower.  The pollinators must find it as stunning as I do!  

I see I posted thirteen photos/videos, so I am linking to Thursday Thirteen!