Posts Tagged: garden
Monarch Butterflies as Pollinators
"More than beautiful, monarch butterflies contribute to the health of our planet. While feeding on nectar, they pollinate many types of...
Bees are the most well known pollinators, but butterflies, including monarchs, are pollinators, too. This monarch butterfly, sipping nectar in a Vacaville garden, came up with a head full of pollen. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bee Flies: Pollinators with a Bad Reputation
The late Argentine-born biologist Beatriz Moisset (1934-2022) of Willow Grove, Pa., called the insect "A Pollinator with a Bad...
A bee fly, family Bombyliidae, heads for a yellow zinnia in a Vacaville pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The bee fly hovers over a yellow zinina. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The bee fly sips nectar from the zinnia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The bee fly takes flight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Monarchs on the Move
For the past 13 days, monarchs have fluttered in and out of our Vacaville garden, nectaring on the Tithonia and zinnia. They are a beautiful...
A monarch butterfly nectars on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia rotundifola) in a Vacaville pollinator garden on Sept. 3, 2023. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Oops! Wrong Species, Wrong Gender
So here's this male monarch nectaring on a pink zinnia in a Vacaville pollinator garden. The nectar is rich and he is as hungry as a migrant...
A painted lady, Vanessa cardui, touches down next to a male monarch, Danaus plexippus, on a pink zinnia in a Vacaville pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The male monarch lets the painted lady know that his advances are unwelcome. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
"Okay, I'm leaving" The painted lady takes off as the monarch also prepares to leave. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
"I'm leaving, too!" The male monarch takes flight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
WSU-Tagged Monarchs May Be Heading Your Way
Seen any tagged monarchs lately? If you live in California, tagged monarchs from the migratory research project of entomologist David James of...
A newly eclosed male monarch spreads its wings. In the back is a female. Both eclosed on Sept. 5 in a Vacaville pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A newly eclosed female monarch clings to a tropical milkweed leaf before taking flight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)