08-19-13 Field Note

08-19-13 Field Note

August 19, 2013

Teagan Hayes's Field Note shares images of yampah, thin-leaved owl clover, and a Rocky Mountain clearwing moth.

Teagan Hayes Botany and Insect Field Note August 19, 2013

An insect nymph traverses the head of a cutleaf daisy (Erigeron compositus). May 21, 2013.

Thin-leaved owl clover (Orthocarpus tenuifolius) attracts pollinators with vivid colors but has little forage value for wildlife. A single yellow flower towers above pink bracts and other less conspicuous flowers. July 31, 2013.

Ants swarm on big sagebrush, farming black aphids for their honeydew. July 30, 2013.

Fields of yampah (Perideridia gairdneri) bloom in moist meadows and open slopes during late July and August. Pollinators swarm to their short-lived flowers.

Adult bee-flies deposit eggs in the nests of ground-nesting bees. In these nests, bee-fly larvae feed on pollen and other stores, then eat the bee larvae in the nest after they hatch (Moisset). Reference: Moisset, B. Bee Flies (Bombylius spp.), A Pollinator with a Bad Reputation. US Forest Service. http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/pollinator-of-the-month/bee_flies.shtml