Gwenyn Brodorol (Native Bee in Welsh)
This is a large native bee of some kind, but I don’t know what its name is. It’s the same size as a bumblebee, but longer, with a more greenish color. It was really working the sunflower and had pollen on its back instead of its legs. I’m seeing fewer bees as the temps are dropping at night. Leaves are starting to turn yellow and I’ve seen a few dead bumblebees on the ground.
The buzz off
“Hey, there boy. You’re bothering me.” This poor bumblebee was trying to feed on the echinacea when other bees kept pestering it and T-boning it. I was not able to capture a T-bone, but you can see how the bumble is knocked “off-center” and ends up “not even” right after being slammed into by other flying insects.
Incoming
After the flyby T-bone
Knocked off-center & not even
The bumblebee was determined to feed.
After another whack
Incoming again
Treading air
Shasta Daisies
Assassin Bug hanging out
A bee lands on the daisy and the Assassin Bug prepares to strike.
The Assassin Bug gets the bee.
Wings in a daisy
A Pearl Crescent butterfly gets a bite to eat.
A large native bee having breakfast.
A large, allusive red wasp quickly passes through.
A Great Purple Hairstreak Butterfly wandering around on a daisy.
This native bee has an impressive tongue.
A Sphingidae — Spinx Moth, AKA Hummingbird Hawk-Moth, was fluttering around feeding on our Purple Salvia with the bees and the butterflies. I made a short video of it and added one of our recordings of Caña for background music (I’m playing and Laurie’s dancing). The only sound on the original video was the wind.
Common Checkered-Skipper on Purple Salvia.
Flies and bees on our five on one plum tree.
The 48th Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta started today. Unfortunately, we had heavy rains on Friday, so there was a rare fog covering the valley on Saturday morning. Only a few test balloons got off before they cancelled the launch due to a persistence of fog and low hanging clouds. I went out to the river and came across a group of paddlers waiting for the balloons to launch. There were other groups of paddlers on the river. The clouds cleared by 10:00 am, and the bumble bees were flying around in the cosmos. I decided the bumble bees were a nice stand-in for the balloons.
Off Center & Not Even 