Year in Nature Photography – Day 141

Carpenter bee (Xylocopa virginica) view 2

Carpenter bee (Xylocopa virginica) view 3

Carpenter bee (Xylocopa virginica) on the “Lo & Behold®” butterfly bush (Buddleja davidii ‘Blue Chip’)

Carpenter bee (Xylocopa virginica) and a little glassywing skipper butterfly (Pompeius verna)

Caught a carpenter bee visiting our (non-native but sterile [supposedly]) butterfly bush. Also caught it with another little glassywing skipper for size comparison. Carpenter bees can be confused for bumble bees but carpenter bees are solitary bees (as opposed to social) and their abdomens are mostly hairless. They do not actually eat wood, but drill to create a nest. However they “usually” do not tunnel into painted wood.

Year in Nature Photography – Day 71

Been a little distracted, but here’s yesterday’s pictures. Took a bunch of pictures with my sister’s Canon PowerShot. Since it has a higher megapixel ( 12 vs 8) than my Canon 30D sometimes the pictures turn out better, however a lot of that is technique, lenses, and conditions. The goldfinches are really coming around to our feeders a lot it seems. I don’t know what the flower is yet, but the painted ladies and skippers were visiting them yesterday morning. Also managed to catch what I believe to be a clouded sulphur. It could possibly be an albino orange sulphur, but the clouded variety females have a greenish-white form and a yellow form. A carpenter bee was hovering around and I managed to get one decent shot. Also was surprised by this brilliantly colored tiger beetle on our deck.

American Painted Lady (Vanessa virginiensis)

American goldfinch (Carduelis tristis) male

Tiger Beetle (Cicindela sexguttata)

American Painted Lady (Vanessa virginiensis)

Clouded Sulphur (Colias philodice) female?

Skipper butterfly (Family Hesperiidae sp?)

Carpenter bee (Xylocopa sp?)

American Painted Lady (Vanessa virginiensis)

Year in Nature Photography – Day 43

Decided to work on some macros. This has led me to discover that I may be miss-identifying our maples on our property. I’m going to have to wait till they leaf out more.

Eastern Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa virginica) pollinating Red Bub (Cercis canadensis)

Pink Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida)

Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)

Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) pollinating Red Bub (Cercis canadensis)

Maple Leaves budding out (Acer sp?)

Young Maple Leaves (Acer sp?)

Year in Nature Photography – Day 37

Aside from a couple shots of an unknown pine tree, today’s theme was bees. I need to find a better resource for identifying the pine, which is likely loblolly, shortleaf, longleaf or possibly a hybrid 🙂 The bees on the other hand I’m pretty sure the smaller ones are the honey bees which are not native and were brought over by Europeans for honey production. The larger bee is a carpenter bee which can be confused with a bumble bee due to their size and yellow/black coloring. The carpenter bee has a smooth abdomen (back end of an insect) which if you look at the carpenter bee in flight picture you can tell is shiny and hairless.

Supposed Honey Bee again

Carpenter bee coming in

I believe a carpenter bee (Xylocopa virginica) what I believe is a Honey bee (Apis mellifera) at a Red Bud (Cercis canadensis)

Same unknown Pine (Pinus sp?)

What I believe is a Honey bee (Apis mellifera) at a Red Bud (Cercis canadensis)

Pine tree of some sort (Pinus sp?)