Wednesday, March 30, 2016

The swarm trap that survived winter

Had a pleasant surprise when I got the Jeep running again with a new battery. The Swarm trap is still full of bees.
Granted winter was mild here, but it rained constantly. These bees loaded up on the blackberries last year and are doing well. I left it up as I had enough to do and thought it might be interesting to see if they would survive without my interference or feeding. I checked it off and on with the Flir one & it always showed a good heat signature. One of my hives is weak & if it doesn't make it that's where these ladies are going. It's hung on an oak in a somewhat sheltered place with late morning sun when it makes it over the hill to the East. The entrance is to the North, but the winds come up my valley to the North so I guess they didn't mind. There is a small piece of 1/4" screen over the entrance hole to keep varmints & birds out. It holds six deep frames & I used one old brood comb & some old empty frames.



Lots of pollen coming in.


Monday, March 28, 2016

Very very small (tiny) Pteromalid wasp

Pteromalid wasp on a very small Daisy!
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)
No Taxon ("Parasitica" (parasitic Apocrita))
Superfamily Chalcidoidea (Chalcid Wasps)
Family Pteromalidae (Pteromalids)

Parasites on a wide variety of hosts.
Some are hyperparasitoids
This means they can be parasitic on parasites. Sometimes it pays to be the little guy.
As usual, click to make larger






Hover fly on another daisy for scale


Sunday, March 20, 2016

Visited son in Florida

Shot bugs and things that eat them.!
Please click on one to see detail
Great Southern White (Ascis monuste) Laying eggs.

Grumpy, the Southern toad

Brown Anole (invasive)

Giant Katydid nymph on my son's arm (about 3-4mm)

Brown Anole

Orchard spider (eating a very very small bug)

 orange-barred sulphur (Phoebis philea

 orange-barred sulphur (Phoebis philea

Zebra Longwing  (Heliconius charitonius)


Great Southern White
(Ascia monuste)