Snapshots of spring

 This hymenopteran (tiny bee? wasp?) was DOA, discovered while I was weeding.

It is SO TINY I had to carry it on a saucer

with a glass over it to keep it from blowing away. 

The irises are blooming, now. Not all of 'em, but this one is going at it. =)

See the TEENY tiny thrip?

An extremely small insect

living in an impossibly beautiful place.

Western fence lizard watching me photograph irises.

I'm not sure that's an approving gaze... 

The "beard" in bearded irises reminds me SO strongly of nudibranchs.

I'm JUST in love with irises. And the ones I have smell amazing, too. That's a requirement. =)

A local native, golden brodiaea. Beautiful buttery yellow faces beaming up at you.

Even with the drought, they're making a good showing.

They're just shorter than usual, if I remember correctly.

Yay, natives! 

An extremely tiny spider (crab spider) atop a pale owl's clover flower.

For a sense of how tiny thrips are, look at the pale part of the bloom,

center left edge. 

Zooming WAY in, there's a few thrips.

Can you find this tiny section in the previous photo?

One last moody gaze from a still-unfurling iris, this year's very first.

A great thing about irises, since I am clearly deeply in love with them,

is that they love OUR climate.

They don't need summer water.

They just sit there, high and dry, through the drought,

waiting for the rainy season to return.

Lovely, since my standards for the drought tolerance

of plants I'll allow in our garden is rising every year.

I hope your spring (or fall) is progressing beautifully.

xoxobb

2 manzanita shots to go, please...

Busy, but today's assignment was "red"

(for the 30 day photo challenge by @just_go_do_it)

so as soon as I realized that meant some quality time with manzanita,

I grabbed the Nikon and headed out.

I find myself gazing at this plant like I'm in love.

Just staring and staring.

So beautiful. We're very lucky to have them here.

SO many wildlife species eat the berries,

and they are early bloomers in the spring,

which gives a low hummmmm to the landscape

as thousands of bees merrily pollinate them

to begin their little bee lives for the year.

Maybe I am in love. =)

xoxobbb

shiny bumblebee bum-bum

 I love how you can see the dahlia flower reflected in this bee's hiney.

These bees didn't seem to be sharing very willingly...

The bumblebee is SO much bigger, it sounds like a C3 plane relative to the honeybee.

Such a shiny, profoundly-black animal.

Finally caught it on film.

Been pursuing this creature (or something like it) all summer. =)

 Thank you, providence!

And, thank you dahlias, for drawing so many fascinating creatures nigh.

=) 

xoxobb

2 peas and a teeny tiny bee: Mumday post

Summer's bounty--flowers & bugs, living fast & hard

Summer.

Time for county fairs and beautiful nights...

and for plants to leap skyward,

providing room and board for the myriad bugs that live among them.

Turquoise-eyed flies (probably related to horseflies)

none of which I noticed when I took the photo. Flies 4, bb 0. =)

In a quest to improve my attitude about summer

(it gets bloody hot here & I'm the first to drop)

I'm shining a light on summer-associated goodies that I adore.

Tiny plume moth. I've NEVER seen one before last week. SO exciting.

 ID thanks to Chris Grinter (@skepticalmoth). That body is less than a centimeter long.

A small ant (lower left) to provide scale for this wee, tiny moth.

Spotted assassin bug (Rhynocoris ventralis) on gaillardia.

First time I think I've seen this particular, dashing predator.

Nicely color coordinated with the gaillardia, eh?

Tarnished plant bug (Lygus hesperus).

A tiny little charmer.

A day later, the same species played peek-a-boo with me

Here you get a better idea of how tiny it is. =)

Crab spider dining upon an earwig, underneath a chrysanthemum bloom.

So many mysterious (and frequently tiny) creatures

to find and try to name.

An assassin bug (that I cannot ID, so far) dining on an unlucky bee or fly of some sort.

An ever-changing populace of

invertebrates in the garden. 

Ants, seemingly obsessed with carrot flowers.

For the plants

the plant pollinators,

the plant eaters,

and plant-associated-bug predators,

summer is no joke.

Lovely, little lynx spider female living on a mint plant.

She's so spiky.

Live life now,

for tomorrow is never guaranteed.

Which reminds me of two views I gained from the Ferris wheel:

the quick,

and the dead. 

It's always good to have a reminder.

Nature will do that for you.

xoxobb

Is it me, or should this be a 5000 piece jigsaw puzzle?!?

Geese (presumably snow & Ross's) at Merced NWR, January 2014.

Someone enduring a long winter might appreciate this advanced puzzle challenge.

Or not. =)

xobb

BAM! Turkey glamour KNOCKS me out in 1 photo

This stunner paraded by 20 minutes ago...

*swoon!*

Can't resist 2 more.

Never caught it perfectly focused, etc.,
but that back turns to orange/copper FIRE w/the right angle.

An embarrassment of riches, for sure.

xoxobb

plant that blooms so hard you can HEAR it, and a tiny little beauty

 Tiny Beauty

More red stemmed filaree (Erodium cicutarium),

also known as stork's bill because of what their seeds look like which,

incidentally, can feel like STEEL stabbing through your sneakers.

It's a flat little plant, blooming this month, but I never knew

until I stared rudely at it w/a macro

how amazing its architecture is. Stunner.

(seeing individual pollen grains makes me swoon)

Blue anthers? Hot pink stigma? What?!? 

Little honey bee excitedly floating from flower to flower in February.

I'm curious why the bee is sipping where she's sipping.

Where does the lovely nectar come out?

Is it there so that the plant can brush against the bee's tummy

to pick up and deposit pollen?

These are my questions.

Hark, I Hear Spring!

Practically the only other thing blooming right now

is the Mariposa manzanita (Arctostaphylos viscida ssp. mariposa)

(with HUGE thanks to randomtruth for correcting my mis-ID!):

However, this plant blooms in SUCH GREAT abundance, you can HEAR it.

Honest.

You'll be outside in the garden, kicking around, pretending to work, when:

Hark! What is that low buzzing coming from the ENTIRE property?

That's when you realize there are LEGIONS of bees ALL OVER

these tree/shrubs, and giant bumblebees seem to be setting up territories

to guard their particular patch o' manzanita blooms.

Pretty smart to bloom early when the bees are THIRSTY for fresh nectar

and hardly anything else is blooming, so you get LOTS of attention.

And I didn't see this bug until I uploaded the photos:

And only took one photo of this clump, so that bug WINS!

No idea what it is.

Besides GREAT at being overlooked.

Just like the red stemmed filaree.

I love "discovering" amazing things that have been there all along.

Nature: the more you look, the more you walk around, gobsmacked.

Love it.

xoxoxo

bb

explore...

 … is today's photography theme.

Prickly pear fruits (I believe).

Took these photo whilst exploring the farmer's market in Houston, today.

It's MAJOR.

Had NO idea what many of the items were.

Which makes me very happy. =)

A key to exploring, in my mind, is to:

1st, embrace your ignorance,

2nd, ask someone to teach you.

That way you get to learn,

and they get to be a smarty pants;

a win-win.

=)

There was one item that looked like bags of dried green dodder or Spanish moss*.

A young girl explained to us that it is what you put in the manger for the baby Jesus.

Not for eating--oops.

She was SUPER cute.

I love learning from a 9-year-old.

So, there ya go.

Day 23 of the 30 day photo challenge (by @just_go_do_it): DONE.

xoxobb

*Now that I look at it, I'm wondering if what they were selling IS Spanish moss, which is neither Spanish, nor moss. Apparently, it's an epiphytic flowering plant. And it is native in this region (I'm in Texas)… interesting!

Colour me crabby

Favorite "color" shot from this year:

crab spider on a zinnia

Assignment for day 17 of the 30 Day Photo Challenge is "colours,"

the spelling of which belies a Canadian or UK origin.

However, I'm feeling kinda wooky,

so wandering around w/camera may not happen today.

Y'all may have to settle for this.

xoxobb

late entry--today's sky DEMANDED my attention...

Tonight's sunset.

Okay, okay, I'll take your picture & put you in the blog.

My second entry for the "Sky" theme.

Poor little sky.

Just wants a little attention.

Don't we all?

=) 

xoxobb 

Sky blue

Great blue heron soaring,

Bodega Bay reflecting.

xoxobb

Day 15 of 30 Day Photo Challenge, "Sky." 

Water, water, every where...

Harbor seal, Bodega Bay

"Day after day, day after day,

We stuck, nor breath nor motion;

As idle as a painted ship

Upon a painted ocean.

Harbor seal, Bodega Bay

"Water, water, every where

And all the boards did shrink;

Water, water, every where,

Nor any drop to drink." 

Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

The water was extra gorgeous this week.

Very much like a painted ocean.

xoxobb

(p.s. Day 14 of the 30 day photo challenge, by @just_go_do_it, DONE)

totally fake

Today's photo assignment was "Artificial light," Day 10.

Which is perfect, 'cause I spent the day at the beach.

Friday foto fling

B1 Bomber

This shot CRACKS me up. Photo phail. =)

lighting, lighting, lighting.

 dainty lady

 Katydid. I swear it.

Charming hoverfly (of some sort, I presume).

xoxoxobb