We have liftoff!

Black swallowtail lifts off after a nectar snack in the wildflower garden.

Busy bee

Busy bumble working in the sumac.

UPSIDE DOWN — Bumble’s work shows in his pollen-covered booty.

 

 

 

Life and death in the goldenrod, part I

We keep a patch of giant goldenrod growing at the front of the house to provide a way station for visiting monarch butterflies, but other insects make themselves at home there, including all manner of bees, wasps and wheelbugs. Wheelbugs, named for the cogged half wheel atop their armor, lay in wait in the yellow flowers, stalking their prey. The wheelbug in the top shot had caught a bumble bee and dragged it at least 5-6 feet before I stopped following it. The one in the second photo snagged a wasp.

The insects insert their beak into the prey, injecting a fluid that paralyzes and dissolves the victim’s insides, which accounts for why there seemed to be no fight left in either the bee or wasp.

Unrelated note — this is our 700th post!

Wheelbug, dusted with yellow pollen from the goldenrods, drags its prey.

Inverted wheelbug eating wasp. Its cogged wheel can be seen running along its back.

In profile, you can see the wheel.

i can has sunflower

Bumble bee is dwarfed by the big sunflower whose pollen it will carry. The plant, part of a church garden, was well over 8 feet tall. At its feet, mint, basil, nasturtium and tomato plants.

Bumble bee works through the disk of a very large sunflower.

‘Lapin’ it up

Evening visitor enjoys a smorgasbord from one of two white clover patches left intact for local honey- and bumble- bees (and other pollinators), and for the plethora of four-, five-, and six-leaf clovers the plants produce.

Long ears, long grass, lots of clover.