Keeping With The Times

living, learning, and keeping with the times

Leaf Cutter Bees in Arizona

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Apparently leaf cutter bees (Megachilidae) are very common in the Sonoran Desert, especially around the urban areas of Tucson, Scottsdale, Tempe, and Phoenix. They feed on nectar from lantana flowers and cut circular segments from other leaves to make their nests.

(arizonensis)

This makes perfect sense because lantana is planted everywhere in Arizona.

In our case, these bees seem to attack the pink and yellow rose bushes across the street from us.

These poor bushes struggle to produce 1 – 3 blooms during the month of April .. and well … I simply have to honour them. Almost every leaf on the shrub has been ravaged like these:Pink Rose Arizona, Keeping With the Times, Leaf Cutter Bees
The roses themselves seem to remain untouched …Pink Rose Arizona, Keeping With the Times, Leaf Cutter Bees
… until they fall apart (which happens in a day or two) … so fleeting!
Pink Rose Arizona, Keeping With the Times, Leaf Cutter BeesPink Rose Arizona, Keeping With the Times, Leaf Cutter BeesYou might want to Google leaf cutter bees for some fascinating images of these bees in action!

Thank you for stopping by, and I just want to add that I have a special give-away coming this week so please stay tuned!

 

Boyce Arboretum, AZ

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For the past week we’ve been spending some time at our little get-away in Arizona. It’s very relaxing here; we eat, we sleep, we tour around a bit, hubby golfs, I play with my camera.

On Friday we visited the beautiful 323 acre Boyce Thompson Arboretum near Superior. We spent over two hours exploring the desert and all the amazing plants and creatures that call it home.

I don’t know what this plant is, but it was a magnet to butterflies – there were dozens of them flitting around it and I was pretty lucky to capture three of them sitting still for a moment. I think they’re monarchs… but please correct me if I’m wrong! Did you notice the bees?

Update! TexWisGirl said she thinks these are Queen butterflies and I believe she is correct. Upon closer inspection, not only are these darker but they also have some spots on their bodies which I do not see in a Monarch. Thank you TexWisGirl!

barb brookbank, butterfly, photography, photoshop

It turned out to be quite the nice little hike (where some of us hid in the shade every chance we got).

Boyce-Arboretum

Beautiful cactus, beautiful light…

Barrel-Cactus

Have a wonderful Sunday!

In My Own Back Yard

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I took at least 50 photos yesterday, and deleted about 40. I don’t usually have such a poor outcome… but nature, light breezes, and sprinkles of rain can play havoc on a scene.

daisy, insect, photography

I did manage to get three insects, which made me happy! Two were taken with my 40mm fixed lens.

insects

This Hemaris Thysbe paid me a visit when I was trying to photograph some lilacs. Well, I failed miserably on the lilacs, but Mr. HT saved the day.

hemaris thysbe, hummingbird moth

And, one of my favourite flowers, the anemone is in bloom. It’s sort of taking over the garden, and that’s fine with me.

anemone

Thank you for stopping by, and here’s to a productive day for all!

Critter capture

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I spied this critter on our window so I was able to get upper and under photos. I used my new macro lens (Nikon 40mm fixed focal length with a maximum aperture of f/2.8). I didn’t do too bad – I like the first one with the bug reflected in the glass (twice). And check out those ears will ya!