Seems all I see up here Amarillo area,is mosquitoes and those little thin dragon flies,hardly anything to pollinate the flowers in my garden,haven't seen a bee or wasp yet,oh do see a occasionally hummingbird moth.
Anybody have any flying insects down south way?
Been seeing a lot more butterflies this week, and a big surge of honey bees. Mowed a pasture Sunday and for the first time I had a full platoon of dragon flies accompanying me.
I am sort of excited, the bees have taken up residence inside a tree out by the new pond. I will monitor for a while to see if they re staying then I will contact a bee service to see about the feasibility of setting up a box hive.
Those hummingbird moths are adult tomato worms.
No, one of the hawkmoths is the adult tomato worm. The pretty multicolored Hummingbird Moth is not the adult tomato worm. The hummingbird moth is a hawk moth but not all hawkmoths are hummingbirds moths.
Not many bees or butterflies around here, especially the butterflies have been conspicuously absent.
I think that all warm and freezing cycles we had last winter killed a lot of them.
Actually, hummingbird moth, hawkmoth, and sphinx moth are all common names for the same thing - moths in the family Sphingidae. There are more than a 120+ species of in the US and Canada. In the Dallas/Ft. Worth area we have around 35 different species.
Josephine, I've noticed lower numbers than "average" (whatever that means) as well. All the regular cast of characters, just smaller numbers -- so far.
Dale Clark
Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society
www.dallasbutterflies.com
Well which ever they are there the biggest hummingbird moths I ever seen,also seeing lots of small black butterflies this morning,they have little blue dots at the back of there wings,about the size of a nickel,very small bflies.
Spicebush butterflies Tropics? My home is getting some of those and my eastern yellow swallowtail caterpillars finally showed up and grew fast. Also seen a few of the black swallowtails...took em forever, but I hear the Monarch cats are also starting to show up...I have seen some very small (about the size of the small sulphur butterflies) starting to show up. My radiator grill hasnt collected any to id yet...The bugs were slow to show up even in Houston this year, but they are there- I think the first ones I noticed were grape skeletonizers and stink bugs-along with skeeters...
Last evening I to saw a couple of swallowtails and some gulf fritters,so they are on the migrate north,but I would really like to see some bees,even the amount of horse flies are low this year!
I rarely see any bees around here anymore. I'm wondering how much the severe drought and extreme temperatures have to do with that. Also how much drought, etc., affects all the other insects, especially butterflies.
Another thing that I feel sure has had an impact on the bee population, the number of attacks by the Africanized Honey Bees last year. Seems there were quite a lot of them in the news. I feel sure those colonies of them were exterminated. And I also tend to think that after the publicity of them, people have a tendency to exterminate any and all bees they see, not wanting to chance being a victim of the dangerous ones.
Are the African bees that prolific down there now? Can you tell them from the regular honey bees? Didn't realize you all where all in a severe drought like us up in the pan handle.
Oh Yes, it seems the drought is everywhere. I did see one Gulf Fritillary and a Black Swallowtail today, plus I found one Giant Swallowtail caterpillar, but this is almost nothing.
We used to have them bumping into us while working in the garden, and now nothing, very sad indeed!!
I started some mexican squash from seed,and it is flowering like crazy,I have tried hand pollinating,but must be doing something wrong,and yet there has been flying hummingbird moths everywhere and it still hasn't set fruit! Yet the summer yellow squash way back in the garden area,has several fruit on them,maybe I should move the mexican squash back there but I wanted to keep them apart so they didn;'t cross pollinate.
If its Mexican keep em seperated. Did you notice dtm on the plant? Some of em have to be thinkin they are dyin before they are ready to set fruit. Quit babying the mexican one and let the leaves wilt during the day, water sparingly no more 3days apart for awhile and remember the plants think this is just the middle of spring...
They will look like greyzini, takes longer than summer squashes to kick in.
Thanks,it always look like it wants water,so I'll cut back every 3 days,always looks wilted so I water it,
Heat wilts em, but they bounce back at dusk, many plants like cactus too, conserve water that way, but wont set seed til it thinks it may die, like most squashes they need several sets of edible male flowers before a female shows up. There are always so many male flowers I use one of them to do kisses to the ladies if I think they need it. You might be able to see more bugs at daylite than you would believe possible. Then they hide out when the sun shows up.
Well there was many many flowers on it this morning and for the last few days,I'll try to get a pic in the morning if it has flowers!
It could be my imagination but there seem to be the normal amount of Butterflies here. It seems like there are more different types that I'm seeing all at the same time. I remember them being more spread out but it was cold for longer....
Tropicman, there is no visible difference between the Africanized bees and regular bees, that I know of. Most people, myself included, just figure that if a swarm attacks a person or an animal, they are the Africanized version. An Internet search awhile ago tells me different, though. So who knows. I do know there were quite a number of 'attacks' last summer.
And yes, we have been in severe drought for about 4 years now, if I remember correctly. Very discouraging!
We have had some rain recently and the mosquitoes have almost taken all the joy out of it. The neighbor's cat was hanging out with me as I up potted a few plants today. Of course I was well doused with DEET and he was not. I looked down and there were 6 big black ones on his rather small nose. I brought him in with me when I finished my chore.
Makes you wonder being in a drought for 4 years where to the mosquitoes come from all of a sudden!!!
Did a Google,found this on bee attacks in Texas
,http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/bees-violently-fatally-sting-3-texas-dogs-article-1.1834585
Flowers this am on Mexican Squash,didn't see any insects this am either,maybe they were out during the night hours,I have been getting flower on this plant over a month and no fruit yet.
Very nice flowers, they look like they might be male, although I can't see the stem.
I have been praying mightily for more rain and
continued "slightly" milder temps.
Nature goes thru cycles, and it would be o nice
if we could experience a break in the drought
mode !
In times of drought or famine, the plants & animals
adjust and don't waste their time and energy.
Tropicman (what can we call you ?) , have you ever gone out early in the morning to see if you see any pollinators around the veggie patch?
Have you ever considered adopting some mason bees?
You can order them, but they are shipped out in
February when it is cool and the bees are dormant.
They don't sting and don't produce honey, but
they ARE busy little bees ! :)
!
Thanks and yes I get early and get outside,we have a lot of insects,mainly those little moths that fly up when you walk in the lawn and many hummingbird moths,which I see all over the flowers,but still see no squash.When my sunflowers get up and blooming there will be plenty of bees,if all goes the same as last year,they were covered everyday all day long,Will check out your bee link,might be something to consider.
TM, did you notice in that article they
mentioned a bee that specializes in
pollinating squash ?
How cool is that ???
That was what I learned for the day :)
Yes I did,also called the longhorn bee,but knowing 1600 different species native to California was mind boggling!
The article focuses on California because that is the location of
that nursery, but there are many native bees here in TX as well.
And if you consider that "historically" Texas was Mexico, we
probably have that many: in Mexico, th eYucatan area, there are
MANY species of stingless bees that make ovely honey from the
pollen of vanilla orchids.
Can you imagine the floral scent of THAT honey ????
Here is a stingless "Sugar Bag Bee"
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=stingless+bees&qs=n&form=QBIR&pq=stingless+bees&sc=8-14&sp=-1&sk=#view=detail&id=DA0C5D789442D19BB06611DD43DFEDE0091EA0D3&selectedIndex=11
Font you just love all those pictures of the flowers and be,especially love the pics with the bee in flight. Yes a little vanilla bean flavor would be good as well.