#pollenators

[nando161mando]

[may-be-a-plant]

Friendly reminder as we get into warmer weather, if you are able to, try not to disturb fallen leaves and scraggly gardens until it's been consistently 50 degrees Fahrenheit outside for a couple weeks.

You very likely have important pollenators hibernating under the dead vegetation 💚

🍂🍁🐛🦋🐝🍁🍂

[zoeflake]

3 busy bees 🐝 Ph. Lunaladee

[northerlyy]

Taurus Mason Bee (Osmia taurus), taken March 18, 2025, in Georgia, US

Hard at work...admiring a rock? I'm honestly not sure what these guys are doing, possibly removing fine sediment from the rocks? There are dozens flying along the stones on the edge of my creek banks. The best guess I have is that they're collecting fine sand or dirt to do their "mason" work with. They're quite shy, but if I sit still enough, they'll come check out the rocks near me!

[relaxedstyles]

It's that time of the year.

[i-feel-supernatural]

Golden dandelions and honey bees. 🐝

[roots-webs-threads]

Give it up for our pollinators

[jswaltherphotos]

A little something to warm you up as the cold weather comes in tonight!

[dare-valley]

[swforester]

A Monarch butterfly was hanging out near us while we were having lunch yesterday. This is an endangered species due to climate change so it made me happy to see it. Butterflies are pollinators so they are vitally important to the food chain as are bees which have also become threatened. This butterfly was loving these flowers and kept coming back to them.

Williamsburg MA 10/11/24

[ordinary-beautiful]

Caper

[makereadgrow]

Before and After

No part of our flowerbeds are entirely inedible, but this perennial garden is really for the wee critters.

The central part is very full of strawberries and they are in the process of setting fruit so that I mostly left alone but I deadheaded the iris plants, pulled out last winters dead growth, and also removed 4/5ths of the day lilies that were trying to take over on both ends. I left one clump behind. It'll probably take over anyway. I'll have to think about what natives would fill the gaps.

I only did a little weeding because the strawberries are everywhere and I just couldn't do a lot.

[clayismyart]

Collecting pollen

[northerlyy]

Ichneumon Wasp (Limonethe maurator), taken August 17, 2024, in Georgia, US

A lithe wasp for the wasp-likers! I can't wait for it to be wasp season again... The paper wasps are back out, and I swear I saw a spider or great black digger wasp in the leaves the other day, but it flew away before I could get a good look. I also found and lost a damselfly I've never seen before, but I can stop being salty about that when I find another one (hopefully). Regardless, the wasps are coming back, and here is one I look forward to seeing again!

[dumpster-divers-unite]

Did you know? Thinking ahead can save a life.

A bee’s life. Did you remember that bees are essential to exist in order for humans to continue to live?

The bee was on the bus, huddled in the drain hole of a plastic seat. They struggled to just get upright and fell to the floor, in the walkway. I’ve been telling myself that I’m going to start bringing a small plastic container to carry whatever buggies I find on my day to day life, but I always forget. This bee was very lucky that I had one of my reusable bags at the ready in my tote. I used a pencil’s end to nudge it into the bag and waited for my stop. Even luckier were we when the stop had a few rose bushes to act as cover. I shook them out onto the ground very close to the base of the rose bush and watched as they scurried to the safety of the branches. It was wildly windy that day, so I hope I chose the right coverage for them.

It’s not going to seem like I did much that morning, but every single opportunity you get to display kindness and compassion towards beings who cannot defend themselves is an opportunity you should take. That poor bee could have been mushed for simply being a bee in the wrong place at the wrong time. No crime committed except for the ‘crime’ of being small.

Love bees. Love our small creatures. We have to be better then the humans of the past. We have to set an example.

[stockschatz]

A pollinator

Champlain Valley, Vermont