I have not been pretty diligent about putting up below, but I have ongoing to follow the directive I set for myself in 2016 to photograph and detect the bees and other insects that inhabit my yard.

Aliens in My Backyard is a collection capturing the intriguing bugs that inhabit my smaller, urban yard. Though a lot of of these small creatures are native, the title is a reference to their otherworldliness.

I imagine part of my hesitancy in publishing is recognizing that I am a total newbie. This is an spot of substantially new discovering for me, and I truly feel shy about asserting any identifications that I make. Just among bees and wasps on your own the vary of variety in my tiny urban backyard garden is thrilling, but complicated. I am slowly mastering, so make sure you know that although I consider treatment in trying to seek the advice of various resources in the hopes that I am receiving it suitable, the insect identifications I make right here are a little bit wobbly. I am no authority.

I captured this small Ligated Sweat Bee (Halictus ligatus) resting inside of the soft cup of a creamy tulip last April. The minor critters are a widespread sight in the backyard garden. I think this is for the reason that they are generalists that pollinate all sorts of flowers, and there’s constantly anything blooming in my backyard garden from the earliest days of the season right until the final. They like to nest in the ground and I have unfastened, sandy soil, especially the space in the center of the backyard that I don’t amend that I refer to as the Dry Mattress.

Means

I have a selection of insect data and identification guides in my personal library, but when it comes to bees, I tend to achieve for the pursuing:

Backlinks to books in this submit are related with an affiliate account that garners a modest charge that I then put in direction of purchasing textbooks to evaluate and giveaway.