bees
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Air Bee and Bee
A local bee motel. There was a wasp checking in, to. This is a rather elaborate one, offering several possibilities for wood- and cavity- nesters. (But don’t forget the ground-nesters!) The Xerces Society has some helpful hints on building your own to encourage pollinators. Update and caveats 11/19: these elaborate, crowded situations don’t replicate natural…
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Home, Sweet Home
A Carpenter bee (Xylocopa) in the wood of a Parks Department sign at Inwood Hill. At top, there are holes for birds at both gable ends, and House Sparrows, of course, have moved in.
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Honey Bee
Spotted my first Honey Bee of the year on the sidewalk by the bus stop, on the sunny side of the street. (Shadow provided by me for better definition in the photo.) Crocuses are out and willows have cracked open their buds to reveal the fur within. You don’t need a Farmer’s Almanac to tell…
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Flight Sluggish and Swift
On a blooming goldenrod, the only visible flower around, a single bumblebee. It was warm enough yesterday for invertebrates, but they have damn few places to feed. This bee did seem a little sluggish, but it was roused by the proximity of my phone camera, and buzzed a short distance away, and then returned as…
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Bombus/Solidago
The cold snap combined with the rain took the bees by storm. They were clustered to various late summer blossoms Friday and Saturday, stunned if not lost. But yesterday, the air warmed, and by afternoon the sun was out. The goldenrods at Fort Tilden were alight with a few of these hardy little beasts. Note…
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Carpenter
A Carpenter Bee, Xylocopa genus. A redhead.
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Bombus
This large, handsome bumble bee was thoroughly probing the Hostas in Green-Wood. Now, I find bumblebee identification difficult. There are four or five species that have yellow abdomen, and none of them are commonly seen here. I narrowed it down to Bombus pensylvanicus or B. borealis (but we are a bit south of its range)…
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Backyard and Beyond 