Derby Canyon Natives, native bees on cultivated native plants--
Walking around experiencing the large banks of flowers while listening to the surrounding bird calls is a wonderful experience. Ted raises and sells native plants for home gardens and also restoration projects. His nursery is a feast for bees and other insects. This trip the sun was out, the flowers were in full bloom, and the insects were active, so I decided to see how many kinds of bees I could spot. Unfortunately the Bumble bees were most uncooperative so I missed what I think was a Bombus nevadensis / Nevada Bumble bee and what may have been a Bombus vagans / Half-black Bumble bee. Even the one that looked mostly like a Bombus bifarius seems like an iffy call because her abdomen has a division of black down the center...
The most interesting thing was to see all the red beetles, several in mating pairs, all over the Showy Milkweed. According to the identifiers here in iNaturalist those are Milkweed Borrers, Tetraopes femoratus.
There was a Honey bee with her leg caught in a milkweed flower's trap, which I have recently been reading about. Apparently many an insect dies if it cannot remove it's leg from the flower's clutches.
I brought home 60 plants to add to our yard. Each year we add a little more variety and any native plants I purchase always come from Derby Canyon Natives.
Havainnot
Kuvat / Äänet
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Muurarimehiläiset (Suku Osmia)Havainnoija
wenatcheebKuvaus
Looks like a ring of bristly hairs circle thorax. Larger bee, roughly Honey bee sized, but more robust. Dark green-black. On Blanket Flower/Gaillardia.
Kuvat / Äänet
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Simamehiläiset (Suku Hylaeus)Havainnoija
wenatcheebKuvaus
Tiny dark bee, can just see pair of vertical marks on face in one photo. On Monardella odoratissima / Coyote mint.
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Tetraopes femoratusHavainnoija
wenatcheebKuvaus
Red beetles with long serrate antenna, some small dark spots on elytra.
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Tarhamehiläinen (Apis mellifera)Havainnoija
wenatcheebKuvaus
This Honey bee seemed to have caught her leg or claw in this Showy Milkweed flower. She was hanging by her back leg at one point though I missed that with the camera. Seems to be some pollonia on her as well.
Kuvat / Äänet
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Maamehiläiset (Suku Andrena)Havainnoija
wenatcheebKuvaus
Bee, with fovea on face near eyes, broken stripe at top of abdomen (T2 i think). On Blanketflower / Gaillardia.
Kuvat / Äänet
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Maamehiläiset (Suku Andrena)Havainnoija
wenatcheebKuvaus
Cannot see face on this specimen, but she matches the other Andrena that I posted just before this one, which does show it. On Erigeron linearis /
line-leaved daisy.
Kuvat / Äänet
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Muurarimehiläiset (Suku Osmia)Havainnoija
wenatcheebKuvaus
Robust dark green-black bee, with bristly hairs around thorax. On Heterotheca villosa / hairy False goldenaster, Leafy goldenaster. (Same as previous bee on Gaillardia, to show floral resource.)
Kuvat / Äänet
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Megachile pugnataHavainnoija
wenatcheebKuvaus
Bee with abdomen tilted up, filled with pollen. Has yellow hairs on thorax and white bands on abdomen. On Erigeron filofolius /
Thread-leaf fleabane.
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Verhoilijamehiläiset (Suku Megachile)Havainnoija
wenatcheebKuvaus
This bee seems to match the others with scopa below her abdomen. On a cactus at Derby Canyon Natives nursery, but I neglected to look at the leaves because the Green-tinged yellow color of the flowers was so interesting.
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Muurarimehiläiset (Suku Osmia)Havainnoija
wenatcheebKuvaus
Smaller Osmia type, dark green, scopa below abdomen, on Sedum.
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Verhoilijamehiläiset (Suku Megachile)Havainnoija
wenatcheebKuvaus
Same type of bee, or maybe the same one, but there were a lot of them around, with different posture. Posted mostly to show the great pollen collection on her abdomen. On Erigeron speciosus /
Splendid fleabane.
Kuvat / Äänet
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Kiertomehiläiset (Suku Nomada)Havainnoija
wenatcheebKuvaus
It was in the middle of the Pearly Everlasting so I could not get closer to take a better photo & only saw it once. On Anaphalis margaritacea / Pearly Everlasting.
Kuvat / Äänet
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Maamehiläiset (Suku Andrena)Havainnoija
wenatcheebKuvaus
Same banded bee with fovea and scopa, on Anaphalis margaritacea / Pearly Everlasting.
Kuvat / Äänet
Havainnoija
wenatcheebKuvaus
Round abdomen, with stripes of orange tone and dark brown (or black) on top. On Anaphalis margaritacea /
pearly everlasting.
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Suku HabronattusHavainnoija
wenatcheebKuvaus
Grey spider, perfectly matched coloration to concrete block wall where it was resting. Small, around 1/4" across. Pair of large eyes in front, with smaller eyes surrounding it. Covered in hairs.
Kuvat / Äänet
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Bombus vandykeiHavainnoija
wenatcheebKuvaus
Has B. bifarius thorax pattern, but there is an additional vertical line through yellow band, so might it be a B. rufocinctus? On Sedum.
Kuvat / Äänet
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Tribus OsmiiniHavainnoija
wenatcheebKuvaus
Small bee, abdomen is black with thin white bands and scopa underneath. Green eyes, straw yellow hairs on thorax. On Sedum.
Kuvat / Äänet
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Alasuku MelanosmiaHavainnoija
wenatcheebKuvaus
Small shiny green metallic bee in Sedum. Seemed to also like looking at flowers inside and below the outer edge.
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Suku EuschistusHavainnoija
wenatcheebKuvaus
Light brown with alternating light and dark border around outside edges, on Sedum.
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Verhoilijamehiläiset (Suku Megachile)Havainnoija
wenatcheebKuvaus
More photos of this bee, to show other flowers it was seen working. Striped abdomen, warm tan/golden tones to hairs on face and abdomen. Scopa underneath abdomen. On Sedum.
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Muurarimehiläiset (Suku Osmia)Havainnoija
wenatcheebKuvaus
Small to medium sized shiny green metallic bees in penstemon. (Need to double check, but might be Penstemon venustus /Venus Pensetemon).
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Tarhamehiläinen (Apis mellifera)Havainnoija
wenatcheebKuvaus
Apis mellifera on Asclepias fascicularis /
narrow-leaf milkweed. There were Honey bees all over the nursery, but they were coming from outside the farm, so feral or there was a hive elsewhere and these bees commute.
Kuvat / Äänet
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Physocephala texanaHavainnoija
wenatcheebKuvaus
Fly, seems to be a wasp mimic, with tan and dark brown stripes, wings colored lengthwise to appear folded. On spreading Apocynum androsaemifolium /
spreading dogbane.
Kuvat / Äänet
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Kiiltokärpäset (Suku Lucilia)Havainnoija
wenatcheebKuvaus
Apocynum androsaemifolium
spreading dogbane
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Pyörrepistiäiset (Suku Bembix)Havainnoija
wenatcheebKuvaus
Wasp, about same size as a Yellow jacket, (larger than a Honey bee) with yellow legs, yellow eyes shading to green dorsally, abdomen has curved stripes, with medial separation which are a pale blueish tone that fades into yellow laterally. White hairs over head and thorax.
It was cruising along the lower edge of this bank filled completely with Spreading dogbane, but stopped to fuel up on nectar or pollen. Larger than other sand wasps I have seen in Wenatchee or East Wenatchee, east of Peshastin, Washington.
Kuvat / Äänet
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Iskosmehiläiset (Suku Colletes)Havainnoija
wenatcheebKuvaus
Male? Has longer antenna, and thick yellow hairs on face.
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Alasuku PyrobombusHavainnoija
wenatcheebKuvaus
Yellow and black striped bombus with yellow face and thorax. Seems to have bifarius style interalar, with posterior pointing triangle, but the hair bands on the upper abdomen are also divided medially... On Spiraea douglasii / Douglas' spirea, rose spirea.
Kuvat / Äänet
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Kimalaiset (Suku Bombus)Havainnoija
wenatcheebKuvaus
Probably not ID-able. Very dull light yellow or faded hairs with shaggy appearance. Interalar is wide, but it is impossible to tell its exact shape. Pale hairs on face, thorax, and abdomen. Female as she is carrying pollen on her corbicula. on Spiraea douglasii / Douglas' spirea, rose spirea
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