Pollinators!

Long-horned Bee - Melissodes sp.

I recently watched an amazing PBS video entitled "My Garden of a 1,000 Bees".  It was fabulous!  It was made in a backyard in England, by wildlife photographer Martin Dohrn, during the first two years of the recent pandemic. It was fascinating and beautiful to watch! It was a real reminder to me about the importance of native bees, and inspired me to go out and search for them, and other pollinators, in our garden and neighborhood! 

Long-horned Bees and unknown bee 

Melissodes sp. - unknown sp.

You can buy the DVD or stream the video at the following website, https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/my-garden-thousand-bees-about/26263/. It is only an hour long, and I highly recommend it!

Here is how PBS describes the video:

"Taking refuge from the coronavirus pandemic, wildlife filmmaker Martin Dohrn set out to record all the bees he could find in his tiny urban garden in Bristol, England, filming them with one-of-a-kind lenses he forged on his kitchen table.

The documentary follows Dohrn during the COVID-19 lockdown of spring and summer 2020, as he becomes bee obsessed and develops relationships with individual bees. Filming more than 60 species of bees, from Britain’s largest bumblebees to scissor bees, which are the size of a mosquito, Dohrn observes how differences in behavior set different species apart from each other. Eventually, he gets so close to the bees, he can identify individuals just by looking at them.

Viewers will marvel at moments timely captured in My Garden of a Thousand Bees, such as bees laying tiny eggs preparing for the next generation, green-fanged spiders feasting on male flower bees and a female yellow-faced bee attacking a Gasteruption wasp to protect her nest. Other fascinating behavior featured in the program includes two male bees fighting each other over a female, different species of bees competing over territory and one busy bee building a nest with a shell and hundreds of sticks. Intrigued by the intelligence of one particular wood-carving leafcutter bee, Dohrn dubs her “Nicky” and sees life at her level as she leaves a lasting legacy in the garden."

Nevada Bumblebee - Yellow-faced Bumblebee - Hunt's Bumblebee

Bombus nevadensis - Bombus vasnesneski - Bombus huntii

There are approximately 1,600 native bee species in California!  In addition to native bees there are lots of other native pollinators, including wasps, butterflies, moths, flies, ants, beetles, and birds. Once you start looking, you'll be amazed at how many different species are right in your neighborhood!  Here are photos of some of the ones I have encountered locally.

I've written a lot about Pollinators in past blogs.  Just type in "Pollinators" in the "search this blog" bar, on the top right of this page, for more information.

Black Ichneumonid Wasp - Bee Wolf - Mason Wasps

Therion morio - Philanthus multimaculatus - Euodynerus foraminatus

Common Checkered Skipper - Western Branded Skipper - Confusing Petrophila Moth

Pyrgus communis - Hesperia colorado - Petrophila confusalis

unknown fly - unknown fly - Greater Bee Fly

unknown sp. unknown sp. - Bombylius major

North Yuba River - 9/07/22

River Update

The river has surprisingly cooled off, even though we've had such hot weather lately.  It's probably because of the shorter number of daylight hours, and the cooler night time temperatures we've been having.  It's quite low and the rocks are slippery with algae.  However, the deeper pools are still delightful for swimming!

Common Merganser - Canada Geese

Mergus merganser - Branta canadensis

The Common Mergansers have decreased in number, and the Canada Geese have grouped together!  I counted 6 Canada Geese in one group.  The goslings are now hard to distinguish from the adults as they are just about full size. The mergansers will migrate to lower elevations in the fall, whereas the geese may stay here indefinitely, depending on the weather.

Belted Kingfisher (female) - Megaceryle alcyon 

There are two Belted Kingfishers on the river lately.  Maybe both of them will stay for the winter!

Great Blue Heron (adult) - Osprey (adult)

Ardea herodias - Pandion haliaetus

The Great Blue Heron and the Osprey are both still hunting fish in the river.  The heron will probably stay here all winter, but he Osprey will be leaving in the Fall for lower elevations. The old cottonwood on the river is one of their favorite perches.

Smoke in the Canyon 9/9/22

Damp Earth Art

Unfortunately smoke has just made its way into our area from the Mosquito Fire. This summer has been WAY better than last summer as far as smoky skies.  Hopefully this current heatwave will break soon, especially for the firefighters.  It has been very hot this week, in the 100's, but cooler temps are in the forecast. Please join me in my continuing hope for precipitation! Perhaps our collective efforts may help it happen.

I'm going to keep posting rain inspired writings, art, etc. on my blog at dampearthart.blogspot.com. Any submissions would be greatly appreciated.

What kind of rock formation is this?

What's happening in the Lakes Basin?

Check back next week for the answers to these questions and more!

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me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com. Thanks!