If You Plant It...

The robin is often heralded as a sign of spring; when you see the first robin of the year, it means spring has arrived:

It really isn't, though. Robins can be seen in the winter, just not as often, for reasons that have never been explained to me in ways that make sense. "They just go deeper into the woods," is more or less what I have heard. At any rate, they aren't really migratory, heading to warmer climes for the winter. I've been seeing quite a lot of them around my backyard, lately, so looking out and seeing this one today didn't make me feel that excitement that spring has arrived. You already know of my raptures yesterday on that subject. However, as I stood at the window today, looking out at the gloriousness before me, I was happy to see this robin. More interesting, though, was a bird that I thought was there, that I could not see. From the window where I was looking out I can see the crabapple tree that is in full bloom, and I could see that something was in the tree, because of the way the tree was moving. It appeared that there was a bird among the branches, and having seen a blue winged warbler in that tree last year around this time, I thought that that was probably what was there today. It wasn't a good time for me to do my bug walk, but I wanted to go out and get the mail, so I figured I might as well bring my camera out with me. The blue winged warbler spent about an hour eating insects in the crabapple tree last year, as I recall, so I didn't feel like I needed to rush out. The question, though, was whether I should put the zoom lens on the camera, or the macro lens. It the bird was in the tree, I would need the zoom lens to get pictures. But if I saw any interesting bugs on the way to the mailbox, I would want the macro lens... I decided on the zoom, and went out to look at the tree, and try to find a blue winged warbler.

There were a LOT of bees feeding on the nectar today, of many species and sizes, from what I could tell–the flowers are mostly way above my head this year. There were a lot of bumblebees and carpenter bees, which are pretty large, but as I was looking up into the tree, I could have sworn that I saw a hummingbird. But no, I couldn't have, hummingbirds don't feed on crabapple blossoms, do they? I know that they are migrating and have reached the state by now... Surely it must have just been a big bee I saw...

Backyard Co-Bird of the Day #1:

 Ah, yes, it was a hummingbird! I assume it's a female ruby throat, but only because that is the only species that I know we get in Connecticut.

 Bad shot of the bird, but see the bee!

 Having a rest

I was excited to see the hummingbird feeding there. There are all kinds of flowers and shrubs that are touted as attracting hummingbirds, but I have never heard of this kind of tree being food for them. I have hummingbirds in my backyard every year, but I rarely see them feeding. They fly back and forth, and there was a particular tree they liked to sit on; it was dead, and they like to sit on bare branches. Sadly, that tree fell down a couple of months ago, and I thought to myself that I'm not going to see hummingbirds now. I've been reading that this is the time to put out hummingbird feeders, because they are arriving in the area at this time, and they will need food, and there's not much blooming yet for them to eat, but I guess without knowing it I planted food for them twenty years ago.

Eventually the hummingbird flew away, but I kept looking up into the tree, watching the bees, and then along came the bird I had come out to see, Backyard Co-Bird of the Day #2:

 Blue winged warbler, I think male. Insectivorious. While the hummingbird was here for the nectar in the flowers, but warbler was here for the insects that are feeding on the tree.

For the record, it happened as I expected, after I spent some time watching the birds in the tree, I found a really cool insect, but didn't have the right lens on to get good pictures of it. It would be Backyard Bug of the Day if I had been able to get better pictures, or maybe even get a better look at it. I don't know what it is, but I think it looks like it might be a really large species of rove beetle:

You may have noticed that lately I don't always choose a Backyard Bug of the Day, and that is because some days there isn't anything new that hasn't been chosen yet this year, and some days I just don't think any are really notable. Today is sort of like that, other than that I would have chosen the bug above if I had better shots of it. But I am going to choose one today based on personality alone. Backyard Bug of the Day:

 

 Carpenter bee. I think these are adorable. They are huge bees, and they are very territorial. They are not really social, and are more solitary bees, but they will have a nest, and the males guard the nest. The female has a stinger, but they are very docile, and will only sting if handled. The males, however, are very aggressive... but they can't sting. They will hover in the area of the nest, and chase away any other bugs that happen to come by. It is really funny to watch. They patrol the area, and hover, and it's really cute that they are so aggressive by harmless.

Okay, back to the crabapple tree:

 Like I said, the bees are up high, and I am down low, so this is mostly my view. I can tell from there, though, that there are many species of bees there, from the sizes I see, and the glimpses I get when they come lower.

However, having the zoom lens out there was handy today...

Anyway, my thought today seeing all of these birds and insects attracted to this tree was a variation on Field of Dreams. If you plant it, they will come. They being not baseball players' ghosts, but those things that feed on flowering trees, of which there are many. Then you get what I have, Backyard of Dreams.

Meanwhile, the sappy tree was somewhat less sappy today, but it is still flowing a bit, and there is still fungus, and there are still fungus beetles, all three species I saw yesterday:

 

 Apparently they are not just there to feed, but also to socialize.

And there were a couple of other beetle species on that tree today, too:

 

 I can't remember what these are called.

 Rove beetle, I think.

 And flies.

 I have pictures of a good number of insects today, but that was only a fraction of what I saw on my bug walk. Today was a very buggy day in the backyard, and the insects were very active. Everything seemed so... I don't know the word for it. The place was buzzing. Literally; if you stand under the crabapple tree you can hear the buzz of so many insects flying around. It's a wonderful sensory experience, as long as you're not afraid of bees.

Ant carrying what appears to be some kind of larva:

 

 

Insects on wood anemone:

 

 Sweat bee

 Hover fly

Click beetle

Arachnid Appreciation:
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