For years, we’ve been trying to get cleome (an ornamental flower) established in our garden. We were told that it’s a great favorite of honeybees. Finally, this year, it’s taken hold and sure enough, the honeybees are all over it. They are not alone, sharing it with native bumblebees and other insects. It is great fun to watch the bees on the delicate flowers. And so beautiful.
Big photo dump from late Spring.
So many bugs in the mountains this month. And wildflowers.
How many different ones can you identify?
Our favorite dog walking trail has been off limits for months to protect nesting Sandhill Cranes. It was their second attempt to nest there. Last year, predators got their colts. A baby Sandhill Crane is called a colt and it is orange! This year, they lost one to a coyote but the other survived and the three of them have moved on. It is great news to have cranes nesting in our valley.
The girls were happy to get back to the wide flat trail through the woods, to the river. Luna can no longer negotiate steeper, rough trails, even with her braces. The braces give her good support and she gets along ok but not for far. Her back legs are growing weaker with the laryngeal paralysis and the braces are relatively heavy but they support her damaged Achilles tendons. It’s hard to get old. She still has an optimistic attitude most days and really WANTS to be her old self.
This was earlier in the month after we’d had a bit of rain. Lately we’ve had endless sunny, dry days.
In a normal year I’d have lots of blog posts from my garden. Needless to say, this hasn’t been a normal year and I have rarely been out to the garden except to do maintenance or harvest. Last week I took a little time to really enjoy it. It was a warm day and lots of pollinators were active in the sunflowers and catnip. I imagine they are building stores for the fast approaching winter months. I love seeing them all covered in pollen. The bees in the catnip moved quickly from flower to flower so they were much harder to photograph. In the sunflowers, they move slowly, savoring the abundance of the blossoms. Most of these insects are honey bees but there are some natives as well as a moth. Do let me know if you can identify them since I really don’t know insects very well.
My Everyday Photos 