Now----Hmmmm....
I think that Carpenter Bees and Borer bees are two different creatures???
The ones that drill pencil-sized holes in wood are Borer Bees.
The males buzz around protecting the females that are inside the holes
laying her eggs. They act aggressively--but are harmless.
Carpenter bees drill tunnels in wood around doors and windows and can
weaken these structures over time.
Am I right---or wrong???? Gita
Plant it and they will come Monarchs and Pollinators
They probably have nests in some part of the old wooden back deck and steps; these are decaying anyway, though still usable. Maybe also one yard gate which has completely fallen apart.
Two photos from today:
1) A bee enjoying one of my sunflowers
2) A skipper resting on a cosmos blossom
CatMint, I found this Giant Leopard Moth - Hypercompe scribonia today and immediately thought of you. Hope you enjoy the photos.
thanks, Greenthumb! It's beautiful! I've wondered whether the reddish brown furry caterpillar I found was a Giant Leopard, but he was mostly reddish brown before he curled into a ball, and then I noticed the black stripes on either end of his body.
Well, the Giant Leopard is both a beautiful caterpillar and a beautiful moth! :-)
Since you mentioned it, below are a couple of photos I took of a Giant Leopard Moth caterpillar a while back. Comparing to your photo you can see the difference.
thanks, David--yes, the colors are quite different!
I think the Leopard Moth is awesome!
So what kind of caterpillar is the one CatMint photographed; has anyone i.d.'ed it?
Gita, I think carpenter bees and wood borer bees are the same.
For the record: I am NOT afraid of bees and wasps, or snakes and spiders, etc. : - ) I used to play with snakes and tarantulas when I was growing up! I just don't want to rub up against wasps that look like the one in greenthumb's photo.
This message was edited Jul 15, 2014 8:35 PM
muddy---
What i call Borer Bees are the ones that buzz you and they are so fast--you can never
swat them. They hover still--and then they buzz off--come back--buzz off.
They are guarding the female's nesting tunnel in the wood.
If another male comes along--they actually fight...
I have NO idea what behavior carpenter bees exhibit...
Tried to Google--but it was more a commercial for extermination.
They did use 2 different names. Wood boring bees and carpenter bees.
Someone will pop in with more info. I am heading to bed....G.
Speaking of woolly bear caterpillars, I found this photo while browsing around. I actually think they're adorable--first time I've ever said that about caterpillars, LOL! :-) They also show a lot of variety in the amount of black they have.
Woolly bears are very cute. I found one curled up under something I needed the other day, so I covered it up with dried leaves and twigs.
Some Monarch Waystation flowers opening here:
Butterfly weed, goldenrod, aster.
(Also some phlox)
Nice! Some of my Goldenrod 'Little Lemon' plants seem close to blooming. I'm trying to save them from the very persistent June beetles.
I'm sorry to hear about those June beetles, Muddy. It sounds like they are a real pest for you. :-(
I saw a monarch today in my garden!! yay!! It lingered for a while on the cosmos so I was able to get a good look at it. Wasn't able to run and get my camera though unfortunately!
Enjoying all the skippers in my garden. Here's one enjoying the 'Golden Jubilee'.
I bet the Monarch will come back. I'm glad you didn't run for your camera!
I usually see at least a few Monarchs each summer, but none so far.
One of my Chelone glabra (White Turtlehead) has a bud on it. I'm excited; I didn't really expect blooms this year! Now all I need is a Baltimore Checkerspot looking for a place to lay eggs : - )
That's great about the chelone glabra! None of mine are near blooming, but I think I need to move them to a different spot.
I'll think Baltimore checkerspot thoughts for you! :-)
Sobering article about the die-off of honey bees. :-(
http://qz.com/107970/scientists-discover-whats-killing-the-bees-and-its-worse-than-you-thought/
I saw my first hummingbird moth today! It was feeding on some phlox blooms.
But I'm seeing *very* few butterflies. I saw a beautiful black striped butterfly at the lotus festival today.
ooh, hummingbird moths are so cool! I had one around last summer--it really did look sort of like a hummingbird! Fun to watch. Although I think I preferred the real hummingbirds. ;-)
SSG, do you think the one you saw at the festival today was a zebra swallowtail?
I know--I've heard that butterfly sightings are down all over this year. :-( I am trying to be happy with my Whites and the occasional other visitor I get. The skippers are always a delight the way they dart and chase each other.
I used to think hummingbird moths were homely hummingbirds!
I saw my first butterfly of the season today! I didn't get a close look as it flew by, but it was yellow and black. It might have been an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail.
I just found this guide while trying to i.d. it: http://www.gardenswithwings.com/identify-butterflies.html
That's a disturbing article, CatMint! I knew the situation was bad, but I didn't know how bad.
Native bees are less susceptible to these problems, though. I was encouraged to find this article: http://ensia.com/articles/the-secret-life-of-native-bees.
This message was edited Jul 19, 2014 8:37 PM
That's a great link Muddy to the identifying butterflies page--thanks! I'm trying to get better with butterfly ID. At this point, I can finally see that I have multiple skipper species, and multiple White species in my yard, but still can't quite do the ID.
That is an encouraging article about the native bees! I'm glad to hear there is less concern about them than the honey bees.
It would be so much easier if the butterflies would just sit still for longer : - )
yeah, they're not very cooperative, that's for sure! :-)
I was in total tears twice this afternoon. For the last several weeks I have wanted to check out the huge Milkweed fields near the Naval Academy where I saw a number of Monarch cats last fall. Just wanted to see how that milkweed was doing and if there were any eggs or baby cats since their have been ;sightings' of adults in our area. So I grabbed Wayne and we went out there for a quick look see.
Lots of Common milkweed, past bloom and forming seed pods. No aphids but some milkweed beetles on a few plants. No eggs that we could find. So we picked some wild blackberries and proceeded down the trail/road to where it turns along the Bay with forest on one side and faily open meadow on the other. Not much blooming. Saw some grasshoppers and a BST and two deer. Ahead there is a low spot in the dirt road where the puddles remain and there is mud a perfect spot for butterflies. Wayne saw it first, a Monarch at the edge of the puddle! My heart leapt and tears streamed, but as we got closer we realized that this first Monarch of the year was dead. Yes, perfect, but dead. Geez. As I picked up the body Wayne said, At least we know one made it this far maybe there are others." We took a little cut off deer trail down to the water's edge and gazed across the Bay. Saw some Joe Pye Weed and Butterfly Weed (tuberosa) and several rose colored hardy hibiscus, a stand of very interesting grass and several tall plants with spikes of yellow flowers that I think are wild Sienna. Another BST but huge! Made both of us duck!
Maybe it was a Spicebush Swallowtail instead...We were already heading back and sure enough we followed it, it followed us back to the puddle in the road spot and settled down on a beautiful Butterfly Weed in full bloom that was already occupied by a nectaring very alive second Monarch of the year!
Plant it because they have come and it's the right thing to do.
Coleup, so sorry to hear about the dead Monarch, but glad you found a second one alive and well!
I'm hoping that the dead one died of old age after having bred the next generation. I think all but the migrators live about two weeks as an adult. The one I photographed was a bit beaten up with part of its one forewing missing. The absence of part of the wing did not seem to effect its flight much. They really are fast and strong fliers.
So, I think the blooming milkweed progression goes common, tuberose, swamp and then tropical.
I am getting somewhat of a second bloom on my tuberosa (Butterfly Weed) after cutting it back after blooming. Do you all find that milkweed 'deteriorates' after blooming? It seems my Butterfly Weed went down hill real fast after looking gorgeous while in bloom.
Most of the Skippers in my yard are Silver Spotted Skippers. Note the triangle shaped white spot on the hindwing underside. Read that the larva can eject their 'frass' quite a distance from their leafy hunker down spot to evade predators attracted by it...the equivalent to an adult human hurling a pound or two 240 feet!
Pic 2 an American Dagger Moth cat currently munching my Red Bud leaves (large, fluffy yellow, black face, 3 pair of black spikes and a larger black spike at the end)
Pic 3 How many Silver Spotted Skippers do you see nectaring on my agastache 'Black Adder' after they, cabbage whites, bumble bees and others sucked the 'Purple Haze' dry!
Any tips on getting some continuous blooms on agastache? Have fun at Betty's Ranch!
Coleup, I have seen the Silver Spotted one in my yard but it is less common than one that is brown with a series of yellow dots on the wings, and also one that is sort of a luminescent reddish/yellowish/brown. I think the latter is a Fiery Skipper, I'm not sure about the former. I need to start paying closer attention and trying to get some good photos.
Glad to see they are enjoying your 'Black Adder'! :-) They and the bees are all over all of my agastache. They also totally love the Verbena bonariensis--seems there is always a skipper or two on that plant! I actually found a V. bonariensis volunteer growing in my lawn. I may put it up for adoption at the fall swap if anyone is interested! Pic below.
My butterfly weed definitely deteriorated last summer after blooming. It opened its seed pods and that was it. It also didn't overwinter successfully.
My agastache have been blooming pretty continuously. No special treatment. Just lots of sun and mounded up on the high side so they are super sharp draining. The Golden Jubilee took its time coming up and blooming, but the pollinators adore it.
Yes, I think it was a zebra stripe. So pretty!
Coleup, I let my agastache go to seed because the finches love munching on the seeds. But I got all these seedlings now so I don't know if that was a good idea. :)
I'm glad you got to see a Monarch, Coleup!
My Butterfly Weed is developing more buds and still looks good, much better than it did at this point in previous summers. I think the fertilizer I dumped around it really helped.
My Butterfly Weed from North Creek is definitely showing buds too and I'm hoping for a bloom soon!
Tried to get a couple pictures of pollinators this morning---
Lots of BB's, but they are too fast to get a photo.
Got a couple Butterflies... Need a better camera for serious close-ups.
1--Bee on lady-in red salvia
2--Butterfly Bush visitor
3--NOID Butterfly on BES
1. Common Eastern Bumble Bee - Bombus impatiens
2. Eastern Tiger Swallowtal
3. Horace's Duskywing - Erynnis horatis
Edited to clarify that IDs refer to Gita's photos above.
This message was edited Jul 21, 2014 1:10 PM
Thanks, GT...
Over the summer--I will be finding many remnants of Swallowtail butterflies
here and there on my patio floor. Mostly yellow ones--but some the black ones too.
I have many in my "collection"....in a giant Brandy-sniffer glass.
It all started with a snake skin I found, when working for a grower, in 1990.
Often-I see them fluttering under my patio sky lights--or just sitting there
--maybe waiting to die after laying their eggs......
If I can beat the ants to the dead ones on the floor--they will be completely intact.
If not--The ants eat up their bodies and head.
G.
thanks for the IDs, Greenthumb. I am still trying to figure out what all the various skippers are in my yard.
Gita, so nice that you get so many butterfly visitors to your yard.
I've been wondering about the small blue and lavender butterflies I see in the yard. I think they are probably either Summer Azures or Eastern Tailed Blues (or both). Very pretty.
I was able to snap a picture of another 'bug' on my BES.
NO idea what it is--does not matter to me--I don't need to know....
G.
Gita, it is a butterfly, particularly a 'skipper' butterfly. Greenthumb or Coleup (or anyone else), do you know which variety of skipper this is? I think I have this kind in my backyard, along with others, although I don't think I've seen the Horace's Duskywing skipper in my yard.
This message was edited Jul 21, 2014 6:05 PM
CatMint, have you looked at these sites? They look pretty good to me.
The first website has a link just for skippers!
http://www.gardenswithwings.com/identify-butterflies.html
http://www.gardenswithwings.com/butterfly/identifyBy/family/Skippers/index.html
http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?guide=Butterflies
thanks, Muddy! I bookmarked it! :-)
I think one skipper I'm seeing in my yard is Hoary Edge. Another is Northern Broken Dash.