Fall photos by James

Eastern carpenter bees in love

Never know what you might see!

Eastern carpenter bees (Xylocopa virginica) courting....

(Noisy day in the neighborhood!)

Butterfly sightings confirmed

 Four sightings that I submitted last fall to the

Butterflies and Moths of North America database were recently confirmed and accepted:

Great purple hairstreak (Atlides halesus)

Northern sicklewing (Eantis tamenund)

Brazilian skipper (Calpodes ethlius)

  White-striped longtail (Chioides albofasciatus)

Pollen baskets by color

While out surveying the green kingdom this afternoon, I observed honey bees on the white mistflower looked different than those visiting the orangy flowers of the plateau goldeneye in our back yard. Interesting, eh? Those balls of pollen are called "pollen baskets." 

On that note, here's an interesting article I came across about "How bees carry their baggage." 

You can actually identify what a bee's been foraging on by looking at the color of her pollen baskets. Here's a cool pollen chart. (They need to add a white option!)

Green lynx moms to be

Devoted moms guarding new life yet to be.

Passionflower blooms...

 Look at our Corona de Cristo passionflower in bloom!

 

I was there at the right moment to snap a photo of an eastern carpenter bee, stopping by to nectar. Today is the last day of the 2017 Texas Pollinator BioBlitz!

 Our corkstem passionflower is blooming, too.

2017 Texas Pollinator BioBlitz....

 Look how much fun I'm having with the 2017 Texas Pollinator BioBlitz!

New species for us...southern skipperling!

 Another new observation in our Wildscape... mallow scrub-hairstreak.

Poor pollinator!