Why I started observing pollinators Eye opening experiences with overlooked wildlife in my garden and beyond. Learning to appreciate pollinators and other invertebrates through macro photography.
Glamorous Moths #7 – Pine Carpenterworm Givira lotta, the Pine Carpenterworm moth. I have a soft spot for large, fuzzy moths. This one is a member of the Carpenter and Leopard moths. From Wikipedia: The Cossidae, the cossid millers or carpenter millers, make up a family of mostly large miller moths. This family contains over 110 genera with almost 700 knownContinue reading “Glamorous Moths #7 – Pine Carpenterworm”
Glamorous Moths #6 – Rothschildia Silk Moth Our sixth featured moth is Rothschildia cinctus. They are found from southern Arizona to Panama. According to Wikipedia: Saturniinae is a subfamily of the family Saturniidae. They are commonly known as emperor moths or wild silk moths. They are easily spotted by the eyespots on the upper surface of their wings. Some exhibit realistic eye-likeContinue reading “Glamorous Moths #6 – Rothschildia Silk Moth”
Musings from an Albuquerque Pollinator Paradise If you’re reading this from New Mexico, the Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge Grand Opening of Visitor Center and 10th Birthday is on Saturday, September 10th, about a month away. I hope you’ll join us! It’s summer in New Mexico and it’s hot and dry. Not as hot as Phoenix, thankfully! We received niceContinue reading “Musings from an Albuquerque Pollinator Paradise”
Meet the Author: Dr. Shaun McCoshum An interview with Shaun McCoshum about his background, interests, research, and new gardening book.
Book Review: Gardening for Wildlife in the arid south west regions Thank you for reading my review of “A short introduction to Gardening for Wildlife in the arid south west regions” by Dr. Shaun McCoshum. If you are interested, the book is available for purchase on Amazon.com With 29 full-size pages, this book is lightweight, but not light on content. It is specifically aimed at aridContinue reading “Book Review: Gardening for Wildlife in the arid south west regions”
Glamorous Moths #5 – Penstemonia The way that gardeners feel about moths and butterflies is often quite different, despite how closely related they are. We are happy to grow milkweed to attract Monarchs and allow the caterpillars to devour whole plants. Weed is in the name milkweed, so I think we value the plant more for its role in theContinue reading “Glamorous Moths #5 – Penstemonia”
The potential consequences of ‘bee washing’ by Sheila R. Colla (2022) Over recent decades, the plight of wild bees and other pollinators has gone from a niche area to one of the most mainstream environmental topics. Scientific research interest, capacity and consequently publications have grown tremendously in recent years, as has mainstream media coverage. The public has been engaged in a variety of ways to “save the bees”Continue reading “The potential consequences of ‘bee washing’ by Sheila R. Colla (2022)”
One Year in my Pollinator Garden Highlights from my pollinator garden in New Mexico, featuring more than 70 native bees and 300 species of insects.
Glamorous Moths #4 – Southern Flannel Moth Wide ranging across the southern USA and northern Mexico, the Southern Flannel moth, Megalopyge opercularis, is this week’s featured moth. Read more here, if you’re interested: Megalopyge opercularis (ufl.edu). Flannel moths are in Superfamily Zygaenoidea with Jewel Caterpillar moths, like Dalcerides. It’s larval food plants are mostly oak trees and some Manzanita species in ArizonaContinue reading “Glamorous Moths #4 – Southern Flannel Moth”
Meet the Plants: More Beardtongues I previously shared a few common garden Penstemon in this post. Yesterday, I was watching a talk on Penstemon by Dr. Andi Wolfe (Ohio State University) and she has some beautiful slides. Please enjoy this look at Penstemon diversity.
Glamorous Moths #3 – ‘Colorado’ Yucca Moth This is the third post in a semi-regular series of interesting, colorful, and unique moths of Arizona and New Mexico. Today, I’d like to introduce you to yucca moths. Yucca moths are in the Family Prodoxidae and found across the USA and Mexico. They are a spring and summer moth, timing their flights with blooms ofContinue reading “Glamorous Moths #3 – ‘Colorado’ Yucca Moth”
Glamorous Moths #2 – White-lined Sphinx This is the second post in a semi-regular series of interesting, colorful, and unique moths of Arizona and New Mexico. Today’s inspiration comes from a brief encounter last Friday. I was at an orchard and a White-lined sphinx moth (Hyles lineata), was getting nectar from plum flowers mid-afternoon. These strong fliers are members of FamilyContinue reading “Glamorous Moths #2 – White-lined Sphinx”
Glamorous Moths #1 – Dalcerides ingenita This is the first post in a new, semi-regular series of interesting, colorful, and unique moths of Arizona and New Mexico. The first post is inspired by Ronald Parry’s talk I saw on Zoom last week (recording here on Youtube). In the USA, the label “moths” represent over 90% of all Lepidoptera species, but butterfliesContinue reading “Glamorous Moths #1 – Dalcerides ingenita”
Species Spotlight – Sandia Hairstreak and Beargrass March 13, 2022. New Mexico’s state insect, the Sandia Hairstreak butterfly, is flying again in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains in Albuquerque. Range. Callophrys mcfarlandi was discovered in New Mexico, a state that still encompasses nearly all of its US range. It also occurs in West Texas and south into Mexico. Life History. Larvae have aContinue reading “Species Spotlight – Sandia Hairstreak and Beargrass”
Gardening for Life / Doug Tallamy Chances are, you have never thought of your garden – – indeed, of all of the space on your property – – as a wildlife preserve that represents the last opportunity we have for sustaining plants and animals that were once common throughout the U.S. But that is exactly the role that built landscapes areContinue reading “Gardening for Life / Doug Tallamy”
Bumblebees of the Southwest Yesterday, I posted about an opportunity for public participation in a bee and plant survey. Today, I want to share the 5 most common bumblebees in Arizona and New Mexico, according to iNaturalist. American Bumblebee: Despite being on the verge of the endangered species list, it is the most common to see in our area.Continue reading “Bumblebees of the Southwest”
Ask a Bumblebee Source: Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab (BIML) | Facebook USGS/FWS Native Bee Lab have developed a simple Plant/Bumble Bee Survey that permits anyone to survey what plants Bumble Bees use anywhere there are Bumble Bees (literally). Our goal is to quantify which plants bumble bees use, rank them by that use, and also identify which onesContinue reading “Ask a Bumblebee”
Meet the plants: Beardtongues Beardtongues (or Penstemon, the scientific name of the genus) are blooming again in Arizona. With over 50 wild species in Arizona and New Mexico (and more than 270 total), there’s a lot of options for our gardens. We hope you’ll pick up a few of these plants when visiting your local, native plant nursery thisContinue reading “Meet the plants: Beardtongues”
What is this HUGE insect in my yard? – From Southwest Yard & Garden Blog Cicada Killer Wasps Are Cooler Than They Are Scary To read more, visit: https://nmsudesertblooms.blogspot.com/2020/08/cicadakillerwasp.htmlhttps://nmsudesertblooms.blogspot.com/2020/08/cicadakillerwasp.html and https://aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/_h/H175/welcome.html
Landscaping for Pollinator Diversity – From Southwest Yard & Garden Blog Are all bees beneficial? “For the most part, yes. Wild bees and honey bees need pollen and nectar to survive and establish their nests. Some bees can become pests when they build nests in areas where humans (or animals) live and play, but even those bees offer benefits as pollinators. Many bees look for openContinue reading “Landscaping for Pollinator Diversity – From Southwest Yard & Garden Blog”
Community Forests Prepare for Climate Change – From the EOS Blog “Trees benefit residents in communities around the world by mitigating pollution and other environmental impacts of contemporary society and by broadly improving livability in cities and towns. However, many locales are feeling the heat as urban, or community, forests—defined by the U.S. Forest Service as “the aggregate of all public and private vegetation and green spaceContinue reading “Community Forests Prepare for Climate Change – From the EOS Blog”
2021 in New Mexico Butterflies – From the PEEC Blog “Time moves on, and the 2021 butterfly season has come to an end. As I pull together New Mexico data for the LepSoc’s Season Summary, it seems worthwhile to highlight and expand on some of the wild and wacky aspects of the recent year in New Mexico butterflies, and to ask: How do we markContinue reading “2021 in New Mexico Butterflies – From the PEEC Blog”
What should I plant for the most pollinators? As much as possible! Okay, that’s not much of an answer. First, which kinds of pollinators do you want to attract? Hummingbirds – red tubular Penstemon and Acanthus flowers work great. Bees – sunflowers are your best bet. Butterflies and moths aren’t so picky, but you’ll want to provide host plants, like milkweed for Monarchs.Continue reading “What should I plant for the most pollinators?”
New Insect Page on PollinatorWeb.com! I am happy to introduce some fantastic flying critters, from popular to obscure. In my suburban Albuquerque yard, I have recorded over 120 species from tiny fairy bees (Perdita) to noisy, showy cicada killers. I hope you will go find some in your neighborhood. Take time to appreciate them and upload the pictures to iNaturalist.org,Continue reading “New Insect Page on PollinatorWeb.com!”
