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LinkedInPosts Tagged: bee
It's Friday Fly Day!
It's Friday Fly Day, and time to post an image of a fly that masquerades as a bee. That would be "the bee fly," a fly so named because it resembles a beeOrder: Diptera. Family: Bombyliidae. In its adult stage, it's a pollinator that feeds on nectar and pollen. In its larval stage,...
A bee fly, family Bombyliidae, foraging on sedum in a UC Davis garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Monarch Kind of Day
What we've been waiting for all season... A migratory monarch butterfly fluttered into our Vacaville garden at noon today (Tuesday, Sept. 17) and nectared on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola. Then she treated us to a butterfly ballet. The Danaus...
A female monarch nectaring on Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotunifola, in a Vacaville garden at noon, Sept. 17, 2024. At left is a territorial male longhorned bee, probably Melissodes agilis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The female monarch butterfly lifts off the Tithonia. This image was taken with a Nikon D500 with a 200mm macro lens. Settings: 1/4000 of a second; f-stop, 5.6; ISO 640.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The monarch descends, ready to head to another blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
She lifts up and away she goes. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Battle Between a Butterfly and a Bee
So, here you are, a newly eclosed Western tiger swallowtail, Papilio rutulus, eager to sip some nectar from a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, in a Vacaville garden. It's a warm, windless day, and you're anxious to score, score, score. You touch down on a Tithonia, but something...
A Western tiger swallowtail, aware that a territorial bee is about to attack, raises its tails to ward off the intruder. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Western tiger swallowtail begins to take flight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Western tiger swallowtail leaps off as the bee draws closer. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Western tiger swallowtail escapes a hit by the longhorned bee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Bee and the Mantis
So here's this praying mantis, a female Mantis religiosa, tucked beneath a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, in a Vacaville garden. She's as still as a stone, and you know how still stones are. Along comes a honey bee, Apis mellifera. She's packing a load of orange...
A honey bee forages on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, as a female praying mantis, Mantis religiosa, perches below. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
No Labor Day Holiday for the Honey Bees
Holiday? What holiday? It's Labor Day, but honey bees aren't relaxing. They're out in force collecting nectar, pollen, water and propolis. Ever seen them weighted down with huge pollen loads? They seem to have "Herculean strength," don't you think? That's what Norman "Norm" Gary,...
A honey bee packing a huge load of orange pollen from zinnias as it heads for another blossom in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A honey bee, its wings a'buzzing, slips through the petals of a zinnia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
All finished here. Next zinnia here I come! (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
