Category: Bees

Mesa Peak Motorway

Photo of a Hedgerow Hairstreak butterfly. A light brown butterfly with subtle greenish blue coloring at inner wing margins and on body.
Hedgerow Hairstreak
Photo of a Cephalosmia, a subgenus of a the genus Osmia (Mason Bees)
Cephalosmia
Photo of a Ligated Furrow Bee
Ligated Furrow Bee
Photo of a Cephalosmia, an entirely black bee in the Osmia genus
Cephalosmia
Photo of the shrub Wooly Blue Curls. Felted green leaves and blue, long-necked flowers with long stamens protruding from each flower.
Wooly Blue Curls
A hummingbird that is primarily gray (in the photo) but around the neck a ruby red collar of feathers is visible.
Anna’s Hummingbird
A butterfly with a small "tails" at the outer margin of the A tawny brown color of the lower wings and a faded orange in the upper wings. Rows of white ribbon patterns at the outer margin of ventral wings and black dashes, dots on the same. Body is a light blue to white.
Tailed Copper
Photo of a Cephalosmia, an entirely black bee in the Osmia genus
Cephalosmia
A native California shrub with long, red tubular flowers and long stamens.
Heartleaf Keckiella
A medium-sized yellow flower that is composite in form with a center disc of florets and outer ray petals extending outward from the disc.
Slender Sunflower
An orange butterfly with white and black markings
American Lady
A black bee with grey eyes hairs bordering the thorax and a striped white/black abdomen
Pending ID
A black bumble bee with yellow hairs on its face and the front part of the thorax. The bee also has a stripe of yellow hair at its fifth abdominal segment
Yellow-faced Bumble Bee
A black bee with horizontal, wide white stripes across its abdomen. Eyes are black. Hairs on the sides of the abdomen and back legs are yellow due to pollen collection.
Wide-striped Sweat Bee
A large Wooly Blue Curls shrub. About five feet hight by five feet wide.
Wooly Blue Curls

Now that the rocket’s red glare is done, is our flag still there? Today’s journey in search of life included a long hike, my favorite playlist and lots of time searching for and focusing on the small ones. In the wilderness I feel free of the monsters. I turned off the music and waded among… Continue reading Mesa Peak Motorway

Pollinator Garden

July 4, 2025 Today I celebrated the freedom to fill my garden with native plants. Today I celebrated having dedicated ten years of my time and strength and patience to transform my yard into an oasis with a variety of plants. I made some mistakes, right plant, wrong place. Too much care. A few plants… Continue reading Pollinator Garden

Triptych

Panel One: a male Valley Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa sonorina), collects nectar from Narrow Leaf milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis) blossoms. On the Sunrise Trail in Conejo Open Space, May 27, 2022. Panel Two: a Lorquin’s Admiral (Limenitis lorquini) collects nectar from Black Sage (Salvia mellifera) blossoms. On the Sunrise Trail in Conejo Open Space, May 27, 2022.… Continue reading Triptych

Morrison Bumble Bee

The historic range of the Morrison Bumble Bee includes most of the western United States from south to north and into British Columbia, Canada. Biologists who specialize in bumble bee conservation assessed the species’ population status in 2014 as vulnerable, which means that in its historic range, the species’ abundance and persistence have declined significantly.… Continue reading Morrison Bumble Bee