Pollination Nation

While admiring some absolutely magnificent thistles and thinking about goldfinches busily raising their young, now that the thistles will be starting to produce seeds to feed them, I decided to try and snap a few pictures of the beautiful, purple flowers glowing in the sunlight.

 

It seems like they come back from the same plant every year, but they are actually a biennial, growing a base of foliage their first year and blooming to reseed the area in the second year, sort of like parsley, and then they die off to make way for the next generation. They're considered invasive, partly because livestock doesn't like to eat anything quite that prickly, which gives these plants an advantage over things that are a little easier on the lips and tongue.

But the finches love them and wait to start raising their young until they're making seeds to feed hungry beaks and the pollinators are rather fond of them, too. This little bumble bee caught my eye as it worked on this bloom.

As I was watching, the bee was joined by what I believe I have identified correctly as a common roadside skipper butterfly. The big eyes on the skipper look so earnest, don't they? (You can click on the picture for a larger version.)

The pair of them worked the flower over quite thoroughly. You can see the full pollen baskets on the bumble bee. Those pollinator people know their business!