After First Wed

After First Wed

And after lunch, Jeanne and I continued on. Lisa had told Jeanne that the Liatris was just spectacular. Of course we had to check it for ourselves! However after researching them at home, I found their real identity, the Longhorn Bee (Svastra atripes)! What a cool animal! The largest dam removal project in U.S. history…

A Ghost?

A Ghost?

First Wednesday again! It’s always a delight to meet up with fellow nature nerds! We had the perfect number of people. It was a Goldilocks number! 🙂 Indeed what an awesome morning! ‘The Starry Night’ Accurately Depicts a Scientific Theory That Wasn’t Described Until Years After van Gogh’s Death Unexpected Twist Saved Iberian Lynx From…

Cat Scat and a Bumble Bee

Cat Scat and a Bumble Bee

Another fine morning walk with my friends greeting me as stepped out the back door. A great morning walk with scat and a bumble bee! Ant Queens Practice ‘Hygienic Cannibalism’ Out of Tough Love Archaeological Mystery: Why Are So Many Women Buried in This 5600-Year-Old Necropolis? Wow! Another one! Big new sungrazer comet could get…

My Turn

My Turn

Yesterday, Jeanne reported 30+ Monarchs in small area at Fossil Hill! Yesterday I only saw a half dozen or so. Today was a different story. I saw over the course of my two walks 150+. And that made me happy! It was my turn for a great butterfly day! Lights out tonight please Migration Alert…

Bare Bottom

Bare Bottom

This was our third stop. Was our luck going to change? We should hoped so. After catching a bumble you had to maneuver the capture jar (ie pill bottle) into the net. Once the bumble was in the jar, carefully slide the lid on being careful not to catch a limb. And that was all…

Luck?

Luck?

A short time later we were at the second stop looking for more bumbles. We certainly were hoping for better luck this time. The second stop was not productive for bumbles either. In fact not a single one was seen. We saw bee flies but not much else. Hmmm, this wasn’t boding well. But with…

Bumble Hunting!

Bumble Hunting!

Now that I had found the South Plains Bumble Bee at home, it was time to go look on the grasslands. So this had been the first try of the setup capturing with a net, doing the chilling, and taking the photos in the field. I was pleased how it was working. Then we continued…

Stuck

Stuck

A few more highlights from the bottomland! For a good 10 minutes we tried to remove it from the sticker seeds of the Stickseed. It took us both to get them off with tweezers and a small twig. As you can see the last sticker was stuck too well. So we stopped as we were…

0.68″

0.68″

0.68″ was our rain total last night! Wonderful way to start the fall season. I know some of you got more, but no complaints here at the Pollinator Ranch. 🙂 Microplastics Seem to Be in Every Kind of Animal… Except One Birds Form Surprising Relationships With Other Avian Species During Migration, Study Suggests Tiny Trackers…