November: Hill and Hawk Canyons

The light in autumn has its precise angles. It offers a sharpness, a clarity not encountered in the haze of summer. But fall, when life folds back into itself, to die or become dormant, to rest and rebuild, is a season that may appear to lack complexity, as if some of the depth that was… Continue reading November: Hill and Hawk Canyons

Bindweed Turret Bee

A Bindweed Turret bee rests on a bindweed flower.

The Bindweed Turret bee, Diadasia bituburculata, is a solitary bee that nests in the ground. Each female digs her own nest and provides sustenance in the form of pollen and nectar packets that she leaves in the nest for the larvae to eat when they hatch.

Green Lynx, Peucetia viridans

Peucetia viridans in her prime

A welcome surpise in the garden this summer was the appearance of a female Green Lynx spider on a Wild Cotton milkweed plant. The Green Lynx is native to most of the southern half of the US from the east to west coasts and south through Mexico, Central America, Columbia and Venezuela. A spiny-legged denizen of… Continue reading Green Lynx, Peucetia viridans