"Bringing Nature Home" in practice.

[Equilibrium]

Niiiice bee blocks you've made!!!

[MrILoveTheAnts]

Found yet another variety of caterpillar nibbling on our Sunflowers.

[Fireflies]

After posting about Mr.IlovetheAnts' blog I realized there is a message system here (duh) and sent a private e-mail instead.

Sorry for the interruption ...

[MrILoveTheAnts]

Carole said... This is great information and beautiful photos. I've found that as long as you have a variety of native plants which bloom throughout the season the pollinators will be happy.


I think it did post but it may have taken a few minutes to update. I'm actually not very sure.

[Carole]

Yes, it did post. I love your blog and have added you to my blog roll. Most people have no appreciation at all for insects and you are helping to change that. Great job!

[MrILoveTheAnts]

I've been getting my first few Goldfinches in these past few weeks. Sunflowers started setting seed right about when they started showing up. I'll add that last year we only had 3 of these birds at most. This year my mom caught 8 of them at our bird feeder at one time. I wonder if they remember what good hunting grounds are.

Anyhow I find them eating right from the sunflowers and it wouldn't surprise me to learn they're eating more than seeds. In the second photo you can make out a silkworm of some sort in the flower.

The photo next to that is an older caterpillar I believe of the same sort wondering around a flower missing most it's seeds.

The picture next to that is a mason wasp which I find burrowing in the flower rubbish. It didn't go after the caterpillar out in the open so maybe the wasp was going after the sap/oil left over inside the flower. (I find ants doing this too.)

Lastly I found a caterpillar burrowing, bloodworm-like into one of my Black Eye'd Susan blooms. I knew it was there because the flower petal was bolted shut with silk and I had to rip it open.

[Equilibrium]

You do nice warm yellows well. Which reminds me. I found something for you. You'll get a kick out of what they have to say but keep in mind they're talking about a European species of ant. There was a radio broadcast was discussing pests and ants making good chicken feed but the process they used to gather them with a tin can was intersting. It's a long broadcast of about 50 minutes but I moved back the slide bar and caught when the juicy parts about ants started and that was at right around 25.05 to 28.06 so that will save you time listening to the entire broadcast... which was entertaining if you want something light weight to listen to about gardening when you're doing something else. By the way... when you hit 28.06... the very next pest they discuss is bored children. Their suggestion was to get the children outside and gardening but the way they started out discussing the next pest was funny.

[Equilibrium]

For you and everyone, http://www.wildlifegardeners.org/for...html#post33354

[TheLorax]

Beautiful pics MrILovetheAnts.