New site member checking in. I was so glad to find the butterflies, birds, and bees forum since that is mainly who I garden for! I love looking through all these posts with pictures... especially now when it feels like 19F outside. I bookmarked the photography links too since I am always looking for new things to try. I've been pondering getting a close-up lens for a while now.
I just set my avatar picture as my favorite bee picture of the year. It was one of the first bees out and about in spring. It liked the tiny flowered 'tete a tete' daffodils, which were really undersized for its girth! It was quite amusing watching it try to wedge itself into the flowers. When I took this picture it was in there so long and not moving that I actually thought it might be stuck upside-down. Eventually it wiggled back and forth and got out.
Another neat one from this year was this menacing looking "bee" that was acting quite strange. After I looked at the pictures and could see it better I found it was not a bee, but a robber fly (specifically Laphria thoracica). I read all about these bee assassins and then saw them all summer long. Were they always around and I just never noticed, or was it a good year for them? Anyone know what species it is attacking in the second pic?
