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Bug of the Week: Honey Bees

With all the news of honey bees disappearing and honey bee colony collapse, I was relieved to see our honey bees seem to be doing fine this week.

honey bee

They are gathering nectar and pollen from a southwestern native plant called pink fairy duster, Calliandra eriophylla.

honey bee

The fairy duster plant doesn’t have flower petals, but instead has wispy clusters of pink stamens (the male or pollen-producing part of the flower).

pink fairy duster

It was nice to get outside for a few minutes, it was a great stress reliever.

Bug of the Week: Overwintering Grasshopper

Did you ever wonder where insects go for the winter?

Sometimes insects spend the winter as adults.  We found this one hiding in a pile of leaves when we were doing some yard work.

grasshopper

A few weeks ago we found another grasshopper that looked very similar hiding in an old bird’s nest that had fallen down. I guess by having old nests and old leaves lying around, we are helping out our insects. Who would have thought?

For More Information:

Where Do They Go? Insects in Winter by Millicent Ellis Selsam

I Wonder Where Butterflies Go In Winter and Other Neat Facts About Insects by Molly Marr and Paul Mirocha

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