can’t tell what the pink is
west nearer to Marlyn Nelson park entrance, where a slump made a bank and flowers could grow.
Photos are artificially narrowed for some reason. Bee is somewhat wider than shown.
albino plant? leaves waxy and thick to touch, no pigmentation on plant
One video shows the mating behavior of many males around a female that emerged recently, and the other videos show some of the male activity over the nesting area as they search for emerging females. It's hard to capture how many bees were active and how impressive of their activity is in both sight and sound, but these videos give a limited sense of it, although you'll have to imagine the immersive buzz the bees made all around me unless/until I can extract audio to upload as a sound file. (By the way, the slight motion of the background relative to the foreground in the videos is an artifact of processing used stabilize the hand-held video so it doesn't jump around.)
The still photos show new nests (indicated by the fresh sand piles) being dug by females that have already emerged and mated. Over the past few days, the number of new nests went from a few to dozens in several nesting areas I've observed throughout this area; nearly all of the nests in the last two photos were new since I searched that sand ridge a few days ago.
Here's an approximate timeline of activity for these bees based on my observations:
Around March 15, the first males became active. They were common and active around the flowering manzanitas and huckleberries; it looked like they were patrolling for females as well as occasionally feeding at the flowers (e.g., this observation).
About 10 days later, around March 26, males were actively patrolling nesting sites in the sand, although no new nest burrows were present yet. The first females became active and the first mating took place (e.g., this observation).
About a week later, around April 3, males became abundant and highly active around nesting areas, while some males still patrolled flowering plants (in this area still mainly manzanita and huckbleberry plants), and additional females became active along with more mating. The first large mating aggregations became obvious. New nest burrows were still rare (e.g., this observation and this observation).
Within days (by April 5), females that had mated were digging many new nest burrows (e.g., this observation and today's observation above).
For now, activity continues whenever rain stops, clouds thin, and temperatures reach the high 40s to mid 50s F.
flowers nearly white, longish black hairs on calyx, long calyx lobes, flower stem straight erect and stout
10 or more bees - patrolling behavior on Nookta Roses not in bloom. May have emerged beneath the rose bushes.
Maybe? They were on almost every Arctomecon merriamii plant in the area.
Tesla charging station behind hotel, WaBA Sample 2: Andrena male, dark abdomen yellow clypeus, tan brown thorax.
Larval Sailfin Sculpin, observed while nightlighting at Shilshole Marina
Bracts of racemes oblong/obovate, at least 1/2 as long as pedicels. Flowers greenish-white. Leaves lobes less than half their length. WNHP G4/S2. Good times
This observation is for the bee. The spider is in a different observation.
Two female Pine Grosbeaks. They were foraging on a gravel road, and bathing in a puddle before shaking themselves off in a tree and then flying away. Very tame birds, as I did not even see them until I was about 15 feet away and they were unfazed that I had gotten so close.
Mapped location not exact for privacy reasons.
Carrizo Plain, San Luis Obispo County, California
Resting on fence rail
Today I am using mostly telephoto + extension tubes to try to observe as many different insect species as I can rather than try to get pristine photos of a few cooperative individuals. I don’t expect all images to be good enough to allow species ID. The primary goal is to document that there are bees out already.
The gorget of the male Rufous Hummingbird reflects light and instantly changes colors. It sometimes looks like you could peel it off.
For the prey--is it a black beetle?
Triungulins (?) on a Eucera sp. from the Western Washington Insect Collection (WWUC). Meloidae is my best guess, not sure what other types of triungulins are out there. Specimen from 1966
Bee was observed entering the opening. After <1 minute, it began to back out of the hole, then resting briefly at the entrance before flying away. Photos are in chronological order of the bee leaving the burrow.
Melecta are known cleptoparasites of Anthophorini. This could be a nest burrow of Habropoda cineraria which are plentiful in the immediate area and the only Anthophorini observed at this location at this early date. Maybe not a nest burrow, but only an exit hole of a recently emerged Habropoda?
This bee was found lying on the ground going through contorted death throes. A male that had recently mated?
Observed while nightlighting and photographed in observation container. Distinctive pink buds where tentacles release
This Cockle looks different from the familiar Nuttall's Cockle.
Remnant prairie under power line corridor