Saturday, July 11, 2009

Insects and Flowers

Here are a few more local insects. After looking at so many flies that mimic bees, I have started to assume that the bee-like creatures that I do not recognize are flies rather than bees. So when I found an interesting green-colored bee-like insect, I turned first to the fly section of my guide. But as it turns out, this one is probably an actual bee, probably of the Agapostemon genus.

I find the green coloration very interesting. I had not noticed bees like this before this summer when I started looking at them more closely.

Of course, there are still plenty of Syrphid flies around, such as this one facing off with a leafhopper.

I am still participating in the Firefly Watch. This week I had my best week so far, with about 25 fireflies signaling in the 10 second count period. This one did not look so good.

There are more recent images on my Flickr account.