For the first time in quite a while, I was able to slip outside and take a few photos in the yard and gardens yesterday. I didn't get great shots and I haven't had time to identify the animals, mainly insects, that I found, but I thought you might enjoy seeing them anyway.
I thought I was off to a great start when I found this black-winged damselfly as soon as I stepped off the back patio. He was resting on a leaf of blue-eyed grass.
While I was taking the damselfly's photo, I noticed movement on the ground, in the verbena, about 2' away. Doing some minor poking around, I was able to get a quick shot of this good-sized wolf spider lurking in the vegetation.
Next I walked around to the mailbox area, with its gay skirt of blooming gaillardia and butterfly milkweed. Over the last month, I've seen more pollinators in this little 6 square foot area than in the rest of the yard combined, I think. This little bee was busily gathering pollen from the gaillardia.
After the bee flew off, at first I didn't see any other action, then I noticed a colorful wasp hanging around. This photo is rather blurry, but I wanted to show the overall markings of this gal...
...before I shared my favorite shot, which shows how her big, compound eye curves around the base of the antenna on her face.
Isn't that an amazing detail?!
Last of all, I found several insects on the aquatic milkweed (Asclepias perennis), despite its diminutive size and somewhat anemic appearance so far in my garden. Truthfully, I only really noticed ONE insect at first - this small, dark bee....
...but note the ants that were also on the flowers. I didn't see them until I downloaded the photo and magnified it. There was also a tiny fly hanging around, but I didn't get a clear enough photo of that one to share.
So that, fellow gardeners, completes the portfolio of "Pollinators & Others" that I found during my 25 minute walkabout yesterday afternoon. I was a little disappointed not to find more insect life, but it's early days/months/years in my gardens here, so I guess it's not too surprising that the diversity is minimal. I'm hearing, too, that insect life is on a major decline throughout the country, so maybe my quiet yard is just indicative of a larger problem.
Time will tell. Meanwhile, I'm doing what I can, where I can - and enjoying the rewards that I am given. I'll just hope to see more on another day.
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
Pollinators and Other Creatures in the Garden
Labels:
Biodiversity,
Damselflies,
Gaillardia,
insects,
Milkweed,
Native Bees,
native plants,
Native Pollinators,
Spiders,
Wasps
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3 comments:
Your photos of the little life forms in your garden are always good. Thanks for sharing what you found.
Thanks so much, GoSS. I enjoy taking them...and sharing them! Hopefully I can encourage other folks to enjoy the critters in their gardens too.
You made some great finds on your walk!
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