It was a sweat bee!

The response to last week’s blog post prompted me to send the photographs to BugGuide for identification. I now know the pollinator was a sweat bee, specifically Halictidae lasioglossum. I’ve learned there are many species of sweat bees. Many are dark black or brown, but some are quite colorful. I saw this one (Halictidae agapostemon) in our backyard a few years ago.

Bi-colored sweat bee

I’ve also seen this one (Augochloropsis metallica). It reminds me of a jewel – maybe a flying emerald?

Green sweat bee

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“Monarchs and more” presentations

It still feels and looks like winter, but birds have been singing and I’m confident spring is on the way. It will be time for planting before we know it. Depending on what we plant, we can help monarchs and other backyard wildlife.

In particular, milkweeds attract monarchs, and other butterflies and pollinators. These are the ones I grow in my garden, and I’ve found monarch caterpillars on all of them.

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