Libellula saturata

Not all wildlife sitings occur in truly wild places. Especially among insects, sometimes an unusual species shows up in your backyard or in some other developed place. Even weedy abandoned lots can surprise you. I ran into this female flame skimmer (Libellula saturata) about a month ago along a windy road above Dinuba (California).

This is a sere landscape in May and only a narrow belt of vegetation lined the road. I had stopped the car to look at a few phaenopeplas near a distant oak and discovered the dragonfly. There was no water nearby that I could see. Supposedly it had ventured from some other canyon or cattle pond nearer to town. It just goes to show that it pays to keep your eyes open – no matter where you might be.

Strymon melinus

There is nothing unusual about this butterfly, Strymon melinus. In fact it is very prosaicly named the common hairstreak. I found it bouncing around the dry vegetation at Lost Lake (north of Fresno, California) a week ago with its beautiful white, orange and black scales (on the underside of it wings).

It ranges throughout North and Central America and into South America. Yet even given its ubiquity, I couldn't help but admire it yet again as I have done before. As with many insects that we either ignore or shy away from, closer examination can be quite rewarding. A reminder that nature is breathtaking at times.

Lazuli Bunting

I've always had a warm place in my heart for birds that are blue. When I saw this lazuli bunting (Passerina amoena) a couple of weeks ago, I spent a lot of time trying to get my unsteady hands to cooperate with my point-and-shoot camera. These pictures don't do justice to the beautiful bird but it's what I was able to manage.

I was a few miles east of Dinuba (California) in the Sierra Nevada foothills in a nice spot for birds in general. I tried (unsuccessfully) to get a picture of several phaenopeplas that were diving in and out of the oaks.

The habitat is a mixed oak woodland with elderberry, poison oak and other assorted shrubs (now dry).

Molorchus longicollis

The Merced River below Yosemite National Park runs through a beautiful yet spare landscape. It is dry most of the year and most species of plants bloom in the spring. Two years ago this last March, we camped at McCabe Flat Campground and enjoyed the beautiful show of flowers along the river and the pleasant weather.

I aslo found a few longhorn beetles (Molorchus longicollis) on buckbrush. Some were on the flowers covered in pollen and others were mating on nearby branches. They are interesting beetles with pale abbreviated wing covers and long antennae.

The species is one of the smallest longhorn beetles in the world. It is hardly even a centimeter long (about the size of your freshly clipped baby fingernail). Compared to another longhorn beetle (the largest beetle in the world) that is as long as your hand with fingers extended, you can get the idea of the size difference.  In the habitat shot you can barely see the Merced River through the oaks.

Bombus vosnesenskii

Our most common bumble bee in California is Bombus vosnesenskii. As you can see, it is quite attractive with its deep black base color and contrasting yellow abdominal band. It is one of 27 species that we have in the state.

This individual was out looking for nectar in January this year along the beach near Watsonville (Santa Cruz, County). This is one of the few bees that you can find at such times of the year. The habitat shot is of the ice plants along the beach where it was foraging.

Xylocopa varipuncta

The carpenter bee Xylocopa varipuncta is probably the biggest bee we have in California – bigger even than most bumblebees. It’s unusual as far as carpenter bees go because the male is a light orange/gold color with green eyes. Most carpenter bees are black.

In the last couple of weeks This bee has been buzzing resolutely around neighborhoods and parks looking for exposed wood to bore into. If your unlucky enough to have a vulnerable wood home, garage, or shed, you know the buzzing critters quite well. There are a handful of control options around but the best method I know of is the wood/plastic bottle trap that is just recently catching on. Type in “carpenter bee wood trap” in to your search engine or You Tube and you’ll find out how to make one (or several). They’re worth the time to make if you want to save your wood structures.

Meloe opacus

Blister beetles in the genus Meloe feed on solitary (native) bees as larvae. I have seen several species through the years and almost all of them have been clambering along the ground – often in pairs. This individual I found at Wishon Campground east of Porterville, California (in the Sierra Nevada) a couple of weeks ago. In this group the unusually-shaped middle segments of the antennae indicate that it is a male.

In collections, these beetles appear much smaller than they do alive. Most of the abdomen is hollow and, in pinned specimens, it shrinks into a wrinkled and asymmetrical piece of exoskeleton. This one was nearly an inch long alive.

The campground habitat is mixed pine and oak. As far as bees go, There were a few bumblebees about and colletid bees. And just a few hundred feet above the campground (which is at around 4,000 feet) was a blanket of snow. Clearly these beetles are fine with cold weather.