18 de abril de 2020

Maui, looking for Hylaeus

I looked everywhere we went and found two other kinds of bees. Mike spotted the Hylaeus when we went to Lahaina. At last!

Publicado el abril 18, 2020 07:36 MAÑANA por wenatcheeb wenatcheeb | 3 observaciones | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

26 de noviembre de 2019

Petalcutting bees

Had two interesting experiences with petalcutting bees. One was a bee that must have either worn out her mandibles or was born with defective teeth. She tried and tried to cut some petal pieces from Sundrops but all she managed was to crush the petal.

The first time I saw petalcutting bees was when I was trying to get a big Curly Dock seedhead into a bag so it wouldn't spread seeds all over. It was already drying out and I had waited too long. I cut off the top and got it into a bag, but in the process noticed a silvery-white somewhat transparent looking larvae wigging at the top of the stem. I could see that the dock had nodes like bamboo so I cut below the bottom and took the piece inside. When I cut it open I discovered to my dismay, that there was a group of cocoons made from petals and a small bee that went with them.

Publicado el noviembre 26, 2019 06:46 MAÑANA por wenatcheeb wenatcheeb | 3 observaciones | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

09 de julio de 2019

More BC Native bees and other things, posted to BC Native Bees 2019 project.

Spent several hours adding all the rest of the photos for the project. Used my iPhone, which didn't do too badly, substituting in because the shutter on the Rebel T3 isn't working.

Publicado el julio 9, 2019 12:34 MAÑANA por wenatcheeb wenatcheeb | 71 observaciones | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

07 de julio de 2019

BC Native Bee Course 2019

Tried to take photos with a borrowed Nikon and 100mm macro lens with so-so results. These were from up at Burnell or Sawmill Lake, depending upon which sign you read. It was our second day, and we walked from Lincoln's pond over to the bigger lake, but cattle had eaten nearly everything except the yarrow. i probably loaded multiples of some of the bees. Still learning to tell them apart...

Publicado el julio 7, 2019 07:34 MAÑANA por wenatcheeb wenatcheeb | 24 observaciones | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

12 de mayo de 2019

Bones with butterflies (and flies)

I expected to see flies on this skeleton, but was surprised about the various butterflies. I had pulled over to see if I could figure out some white flowers in the meadows on the southern end of Blewett Pass. I chose a place without many flowers, but there were butterflies mudding near the road. I saw some activity up the road a short way and went to look. It was this skeleton and there was a lot of activity.

Publicado el mayo 12, 2019 06:30 MAÑANA por wenatcheeb wenatcheeb | 8 observaciones | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

30 de marzo de 2019

29 May 2017 Morning, midday, and night bees

I added an old collection of bees from a couple years ago. I had labeled the file to indicate that I took photos all day. There are small wild onions up on the hill and I have been spreading their seeds to increase the number of flowers at the edge of the meadow uphill from the house. The number of bees (and a few flies) attracted to my chives makes me wonder if the two are connected.

There are a several white flowered thymes planted around the yard. One is culinary thyme, right next to the back porch, and the chives. There is a row about 3' long down the south side of the house along one of the long rock stairsteps. (It could be that one of the creeping thymes near the porch also has white flowers. All of them are withing 20' of that corner of the house.

Publicado el marzo 30, 2019 03:40 TARDE por wenatcheeb wenatcheeb | 36 observaciones | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

Great Horned Owl, on the back porch

Walked into my kitchen and discovered there was a Great Horned Owl sitting on the back porch chair. It stayed a while, at least half an hour or so. It just looked around. Maybe it liked the shade as the snow was still bright in the late afternoon.

Publicado el marzo 30, 2019 03:31 TARDE por wenatcheeb wenatcheeb | 1 observación | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

24 de noviembre de 2018

Haleakala, to the top and back (Nov (Nov 19)

After a "quick" snorkel, we drove up to the top of the island on a perfect day beginning with early blue sky. At the top there wasn't a lot of wind though it was noticeably cooler. Clouds began to form and crept up and over the edge of the crater to fill it in some. The top is mostly cinders and rock, without a lot growing there. There is a band of clouds lower down that provides mist and moisture to plants in that area. This made it interesting to see things like ferns growing in the grass and pockets of moisture loving things between the rocks where they are more protected, then wide open drier areas without a lot of cover, depending upon the location.

Because were diving we had to wait several days to be able to go up here. As I get altitude sickness, I skipped hiking the rim trail. It looked like a lot of different colored cinders and very few plants to photograph anyway. So, all my photos are pretty close to the road or the little trails at the viewpoints. I took a group of photos at the top where the Silverswords grew, along with some plantain and Lady Beetles--interesting to see them at 10,000' elevation.

We stopped for lunch at the Silversword and crater viewpoint, but there really weren't many Silverswords. That was were the ferns and small plants were tucked into the rock.

The other viewpoint was Kalahaku, which is a larger stopping spot, with more parking space. That is where the Chukar was pecking the ground beneath the cars.

Found a good description of the road and landscape of the park: https://www.dartmouth.edu/~volcano/texts/DekHaleakala.html#Haleakala

Publicado el noviembre 24, 2018 06:11 TARDE por wenatcheeb wenatcheeb | 39 observaciones | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

Hana Highway, counterclockwise (Nov 16)

Got a late start because we had to snorkle first. We drove the Hana Highway in reverse, so we met more people than we had to follow. Ended up on the north side driving in the rain and the dark--wouldn't recommend that.

Stopped at the Pools of 'Ohe'o National Park for a break and to eat a picnic lunch. Walked the trail to the edge of the pools which were closed. There wasn't any likely picnicking spot so we ended up on the lawn. Took some photos there of

Continued around through Hana to the wetter side of the island. There are next to no places to pull over to look at anything so we have only a couple of waterfall photos. It was getting dark so we never went out on any other trails to explore closer, and my photos are all next to the road.

Publicado el noviembre 24, 2018 06:09 TARDE por wenatcheeb wenatcheeb | 1 observación | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

Sonoran Carpenter Bee (Nov. 16)

When we first arrived at the Wailea Elua condos, there were a couple trees with large purple flowers near the parking area and I could see orange butterflies and large black bees visiting them. They were too high to get decent photos.

Luckily, I had some time to wander the gardens and discovered this bee that was very intent on collecting nectar from just one flower head on this plant right at my level so I was able to get decent photos. I was able to take many photos and managed to get a few of her slitting the tube to rob its nectar. Also got a decent video of it.

John Ascher did the ID and it seems to be a native Hawaiian bee, which made me very happy.

Publicado el noviembre 24, 2018 06:01 TARDE por wenatcheeb wenatcheeb | 1 observación | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario