Tiny bumblebees and other pollinators have been taking full advantage of late blooming asters.
My sister had a bumblebee nest by her front door this summer and we learned quite a lot about the creatures. They didn't bother anyone, but we did have to keep the dogs from snapping the spicy flies.
At this late date, queen bumbles have left the nest to hibernate over the winter and their non-queen daughters are living out their last days in the fields, frequently sleeping on flowers when its too cold or dark for them to fly.
In the spring, the queens that survive will build new nests and hope to get a new brood of daughters going to help them create a full and healthy colony before hatching some males and new queens to start the process all over again.
The clouded sulphur butterflies take advantage of the late bloomers, too. The white female above blends in with the white asters.
Asters are lovely enough all by themselves, but knowing the important part they play in the survival of late feeding pollinators and migrating butterflies makes them even more special.
I caught this bumblebee lifting off and heading over to taste a different flower.
I hope you enjoyed this little field trip as much as I did. :)
2 comments:
Beautiful asters and bumblebees are lovely Fall emblems and I thank you for sharing! I haven't been able to get out as much as I would like to, so I really appreciate your presentation. Keep enjoying the fall weather!
I still haven't figured out what your fuzzy yellow-fringed friend on the Black-eyed Susan is. Have you?
Hugs to ya from BetsyLee
Thank you, BetsyLee. I'm so glad you have been enjoying the posts. I have a lot of new photos to download and prepare for posting, so stay tuned. Also, I have collected the trail camera pictures and there are some fun ones to post. :)
And no, I still have no idea who the funny fuzzy fellow is. We'll figure it out one of these days.
Hugs right back!
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