Out and about after the rain

 Here is a hornworm I found on our pepper plant. If not for the frass I would have missed it. For those of you that don't know what frass is, it is droppings.

 Just about any damp or semi damp spot along the county roads here have lots of Wingstem blooming. The bees are using it too. I noticed a week ago or so, the bees bringing in orange pollen. The nearest wingstem to just that I know of is maybe an half mile from here. Something you might not know is that each bee gathers one pollen type usually until the flowers are finished. Other bees might be out there getting pollen from another source, once brought back home they do not mix the pollen.

This bee with orange pollen confirms to me that our orange pollen bees are visiting wingstem right now.

Today I saw lots of these Eastern-tailed Blues, these two posed for me nicely.

This is an wild lobelia that I see every late summer or fall. It was in great light and had a decent background for a change.


This is Gerardia it looked really really good the rain has revived it. I saw lots of it, yet found no Common Buckeye caterpillars on it. Usually in late summer you can easily find caterpillars.

This is my favorite spider it is an Marbled Orb Weaver. Very secretive and weaves a beautiful web. If you ever find one building its web it is fascinating!

This spider on the other hand is the villain of all spiders. I have seen this one with more rare butterflies in its clutches than I care to recall. It is a Green Lynx Spider, my first this year.