A few of this summer’s visitors to the flowers–working on getting better at identifying pollinators and beneficials. (Click in to navigate through large images.)
Alexander Mining Bee on Golden Alexanders (May 2023)
Ants farming aphids on Golden Alexanders (May 2023)
Brachyleptura rubrica/Flower Longhorn beetle. The rose is the lovely and talented ‘Lyda Rose’. (June 2023)
Possible small carpenter bee (genus Ceratini) on Stewartia flower/ (June 2023)
Swing and a miss. Can’t find an ID so we’ll say ‘Long horn beetle’ and call it a day. Goatsbeard attracts tons of little critters like this one. (June 2023)
Common Eastern Bumblebee aboard Autumn Joy sedum September 2023
Honeybees on Canadian goldenrod (August 2023)
Bramble Mason/Euminid Solitary Wasp (Ancistrocerus adiabatus) on Goldenrod. These prey on spruce budworm, unfortunately my spruce and its budworms are a hundred feet away. Perhaps I’ll add some goldenrod over there, better still, scatter some seed over there later in the fall. (September 2023)
Maybe the Gold-backed Snipe Fly (Chrysopilus thoracicus)? on Japanese Shrub Mint. Online images show a black head on this fly and I can’t find others that also show a gold head in addition to the thorax. (August 2023).
Common Eastern Bumblebee and incoming stranger on Canadian goldenrod. We’ll just assume it is a mosquito because it was that kind of summer. (August 2023)
Common Eastern Bumblebee on hydrangea serrata ‘Blue Billows’ (July 2023)
Brachyleptura rubrica, the Flower Longhorn beetle, on valerian. (June 2023)
Common Eastern Bumblebee on one of the many tiny flowers at the center of a giant sunflower (July 2023)
