Images

Fort Matanzas National Monument, Florida - only about 6mm in length, notice characteristic sharp bend in mandibles. Doug Inkley from National Wildlife Federation has given this one the common name Mr Miyagi.

You never know what you are going to run into. This is Perdita bradleyi. A very uncommon bee and only the second record I know of for Maryland or any of the surrounding states. Found by Don Harvey and then Tim McMahon on Jug Bay Wetlands Reserve in Anne Arundel County.

You never know what you are going to run into. This is Perdita bradleyi. A very uncommon bee and only the second record I know of for Maryland or any of the surrounding states. Found by Don Harvey and then Tim McMahon on Jug Bay Wetlands Reserve in Anne Arundel County.

New Vermont Species Record. This little tiny bee is a specialist on a plant that most people pull out of their gardens, Physalis, or Ground Cherry, this plant has a number of specialists associated with it and, we should think about it as something to plant in our gardens!

Another Reason that Weeds Have Value: In this case the weed is Physalis, tomitillos or ground cherries. Native to North America they are usually considered weeds unless they are one of the edible varieties, yet, they host several native bees who can only live on Physalis pollen, moving this weed in my mind a bit more to the good side of the ledger book.

Perdita luteola, Arizona, Petrified Forest National Park

Gateway National Recreation Area, National Park Service

Perdita latior, male, Arizona Petrified Forest National Park

Another old and ancient fulgorid specimen from the Smithsonian. If you peer upclose you can see that it is a wall of tiny dust and dirt specs a sign of a collection that at one point was not so collected as it is at the Natural History museum. The hole below the eye was likely made by a friendly dermestid larvae. Still useful and still spectacular.

Frederick County Maryland, Collected by Richard Orr

Euglossa....the orchid bees, swanky glintlings of the New World tropical forests. The males gather fragrances produced by orchids who are then pollinated by the infatuations of these males.

Another widespread mason bee from the West...this one was found in Yellowstone National Park as part of a study of alpine bee populations there. Osmia albolateralis is its name...sadly, like most bees it lacks a common name. Photographed by Elizabeth Garcia.

A Series: This is a set of slate gorgets and fragments there of. This fragment was found along the banks of the Patuxent River in Maryland but the slate is from Central Ohio. Other artifacts indicate that this site had been used for thousands of years as a ritual site by Adena culture Indians with numerous items brought in from Ohio (imagine that!).

A Series: This is a set of slate gorgets and fragments there of. This fragment was found along the banks of the Patuxent River in Maryland but the slate is from Central Ohio. Other artifacts indicate that this site had been used for thousands of years as a ritual site by Adena culture Indians with numerous items brought in from Ohio (imagine that!).

A Series: This is a set of slate gorgets and fragments there of. This fragment was found along the banks of the Patuxent River in Maryland but the slate is from Central Ohio. Other artifacts indicate that this site had been used for thousands of years as a ritual site by Adena culture Indians with numerous items brought in from Ohio (imagine that!).

A small very black bee with an extremely wide head.Note the lobe projecting from the "cheek" back towards the thorax. This is one member of a fairly large genus of bees that are restricted to tropical South America south. From...the Packer Lab.

Dead Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Archilochus colubris, after striking a building in the fall of 2012 in Washington D.C. Collected by Lights out DC

Ruby crystals in a rock. Experimental shot from some material given to me by the Geology Division at USGS. Right now just playing around with light set ups and photoshopping...comments welcome. Photograph by Brooke Alexender.

Back to the great Chilean expedition of 2017. Here is Ruizanthedella mutabilis, which, if I recall correctly, is something of a dirtball species, one that was found regularly and elicited no excitement from Laurence Packer, expedition chief. Halictids are like that.

Elderberry...Sambucus nigra in this case....Always listed as a good bee plant, but despite all the bloom I have never been that impressed by the bee coming and going on this plant. But they do bloom over a more extended period than some more bee centric berry bushes. Pictures and plants by Helen Lowe Metzman.

Elderberry...Sambucus nigra in this case....Always listed as a good bee plant, but despite all the bloom I have never been that impressed by the bee coming and going on this plant. But they do bloom over a more extended period than some more bee centric berry bushes. Pictures and plants by Helen Lowe Metzman.