Pollinator Posts by May Chen

A gardener friend inquired about some small bees clinging with their jaws to the leaves of a Pink-flowering Currant, Ribes sanguinem  in one of the gardens she tended.  It got me really excited since that

A beautiful morning at Tilden Regional Park in the Berkeley hills.  I have come early as the afternoon is forecast to be hot, reaching beyond 70 F.   Walking to the glorious patch of blooming

I decide to explore the Laurel picnic area of the Tilden Regional Park this afternoon.  It’s only a stone’s throw from the Padre picnic area I visited yesterday, also blessed with an abundance of California

A friend who walks her dog in Tilden Park daily told me of “a trail that traverses a buttercup-covered knoll”.  I decide I have to check it out today. A picnic table at the Padre

I walk a narrow path through the grassy knoll, finding more Buttercups blooming along the trail.  This is a particularly beautiful spot, graced by a magnificent oak tree.   If anybody wants to observe insects

I walk back and forth along the short stretch of the trail where the California Buttercup, Ranunculus californicus grows the most abundantly.  As the morning warms up toward noon time, insect activity on the Buttercups

Longing for sunshine, I walk the open trails through the rolling hills of Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve this cool, sunny morning.   The hills are lush with every shade of green, the grasses taking on

Another cold morning sends me racing to the little park across from the Steam Train parking lot before the Mining Bees wake up.  The sun is casting long shadows over the grassy slope as I

I have not expected to be back at Skyline Gardens again so soon, but yesterday’s cold storm had me wondering about those male Mining Bees (family Andrenidae).  How did they fare through such challenging weather?

I decide to head home at 11:30 am.  Passing the little park across from the Steam Train parking lot, I notice that the Buttercups are blooming gloriously here in small patches, under the oak trees

I return to Skyline Gardens after lunch.  Arriving a little after 2 pm I find that the morning fog has lifted but it is still overcast and cold up here, with temperatures hovering in the

Another day to seek shade.  The West Ridge Trail between the Waterloo and the Skyline Staging Areas in the Oakland hills beckons to me.   Huge Sow Thistles, Sonchus oleraceus have grown up in the areas cleared

An Empidid Dance Fly (genus Empis, subgenus Enoplempis, family Empididae) is probing for nectar from a cluster of flowers of the Pacific Sanicle, Sanicula crassicaulis. Dance Flies, in the family Empididae, get their name from

It promises to be a cool, overcast day – perfect for checking on the Mining Bee(s) that might still be sleeping on the California Buttercup flowers in the morning at Skyline Gardens.   Arriving at

The weather forecast tells of unseasonable heat today.  Time to seek refuge in the coolness of the Reinhardt Redwood Regional Park in the Oakland hills.   Ah, the first insect for the day is an

I approach the Steam Train entrance to the Skyline Gardens this morning with excitement and trepidation.  The skies are still overcast, and the temperature low – I hope I get to see the male Mining

A small Crane Fly dances unsteadily in front of me, then lands on a Bee Plant leaf.  It is a Limoniid Crane Fly. Related to the Large Crane Flies (family Tipulidae), the Limoniids are medium

An adult female Pacific Black-legged Tick, Ixodes pacificus is resting on a flower of Wild Cucumber, Marah oregana. ‎www.publichealth.lacounty.gov-eh-docs-safety-lyme-disease-california.pdf A small spider is resting on a terminal leaf of Sticky Monkeyflower, Diplacus aurantiacus.  There appears

It’s wonderful to be out at Skyline Gardens after a rainy day.  Rain drops are still clinging to the Snowberry leaves near Siesta Gate.   A few flower spikes of the Woodland Star, Lithophragma affine

As rain is in the forecast for the next couple of days, I feel the urgency to check for insect activities at Skyline Gardens before being house-bound again.  It is cold, cloudy, and a little

Probably overlooked by most visitors to the garden, another inconspicuous plant is blooming with small yellow flowers along Skyline Trail.  It is the American Wintercress, Barbarea orthoceras (family Brassicaceae). The perennial herb is native to

On the way home from the Regional Parks Botanic Gardens, I pass the Skyline Gardens and decide to make a quick stop to check on the plants in bloom here, taking the paved road up

I arrive early at the Regional Parks Botanic Gardens hoping to find some hawk moths still out foraging.  No such luck.  But there are many botanical treasures to savor here. The various Alumroots, Heuchera sp. (family

To avoid muddy trails, one of my first choices for a walk after a series of rain is the Nimitz Trail at Inspiration Point in the Berkeley hills. Ah, that lush patch of Miner’s Lettuce