Happy WINTER SOLSTICE 2016

Tiny Treasures: SWEAT BEE and VIRESCENT GREEN BEE

It was a hot sunny August day when this little Sweat Bee landed on my arm. 
It was only a couple millimeters long, but what it lacked in size, it boasted in colors. 
It took to a puddle of sugar water (a hummingbird treat that had spilled out onto a stone) giving me a few precious minutes to photograph it.

The red ball is the head of a sewing pin, just to show a comparison in size.

 The bee does not seem to be too impressed by it.

"Keep that thing away from me, will you?"

Another little gem appeared about 3 weeks later.  
A Virescent Green Bee has been in our garden on several occasions, usually looking for nectar or pollen in the squash patch or on the sunflowers.

The metallic bees belong to a large group called Halictid Bees; small, usually solitary bees who build their nests in the ground.



It may take a long a long time for a person to notice their presence but once found they seem to be re-appearing year after year. 
That probably because there is such a huge difference between looking and seeing.

An Ode to SQUASH

Never, ever again treat the spaghetti squash or zucchini with contempt! 

It could be that they (the squash family) are the smartest plants around and this is why:

If you ever spent about three seconds to push a shiny squash seed into a bit of fertile dirt, chances are that a seedling burst open the seed shell and then successfully took over your garden. In no time!

Then, it sent out a slender arm (or two, or a dozen); a shoot capable of climbing over anything in its path and attaching itself to poles, fences wire or fellow plants.

Shiny new leaves sprouted on the young plant and soon they shaded out the competition. 
Let there be light shining on those leaves and on the millions of tiny photosynthetic factories within. 

Was there a conference in Paris on going solar? That in 2016? 
They should have asked the squash - it knows how to use the sunlight! 
It has known that for thousands of years.

Eventually 2 kinds of flowers had been produced:

Some were male with a bunch of pollen grains arranged around a stick-like stamen 
(filaments that carry anthers with pollen are missing in squash).
The stamen is placed strategically in the center of a deep, hairy "well".
And at the bottom of the "well" are nectaries; specialized nectar-secreting groups of cells.
One nectary is clearly visible in the photo; it is the small brownish dot at the bottom of the "well".
Nectar is highly valued and sought after by many: bees, flies, butterflies, hummingbirds and moths.

Just a couple of weeks ago I had a chance to observe insects during their morning visit of the squash blossoms.                                                           

Various customers were visiting the flower but they were NOT after pollen! Oh, no! 
They wanted nectar, the potent source of energy and a crucial ingredient of honey. 
They were eager to crawl to the bottom of the "well", brushing against the stamen and accumulating pollen on their hairy bodies!



There was barely enough space for them to squeeze through. And the tough hairs on the side of the "well" did not make it easier one bit.

BINGO!!!

They were mostly bees and drone flies there;

the green one being a Virescent Green Metallic Bee - Agapostemon virescens.

After they left the flower, they landed on a nearby leaf and, surprisingly, proceeded to brush all that pollen away.

Only after they managed to get rid of most of it did they fly to another flower.

Drone Fly

A bee attempting to brush away the sticky pollen.

After that they would fly off to find another nectar producing flower.

Possibly a female one.

I was wondering: did they know that they were being used?

Or was it Fair Trade?

The female blossom (top of the page) would also be yellow-orange but in the "well" would sit a 

different extrusion, the sticky pistil, that traps the pollen grains and allows them to grow towards the eggs that are placed in a "bag" just underneath the "well". That's where fertilization occurs. 
1 pollen grain per 1 egg. 1 future seed. No waste!


The female flower would also contain the nectaries.

Because ... how else would a female flower attract the already pollen laden insects?

But here comes the best part! The nectaries in male flowers produce thicker, sweeter nectar and in higher volume too. Wouldn't anyone visit the male flower first? You bet!

Squashes are efficient too. There is no beauty contest between them - the blossom, male or female, opens in the morning and before the day is done either one is closed and finished. You can almost watch the process with your eyes.
The extra nectar within the flowers is re-absorbed, re-used, recycled within the body.

Cucurbits: The Squash family. 

Vigorous tricksters, humble and efficient. Possibly the smartest plants in anyone's yard. 

Squash derives from askutasquash (which means "a green thing eaten raw"). NA first nations language.
Wikipedia.

HUMMINGBIRDS of Southern British Columbia

It is late August in Southern British Columbia which means that most of the hummingbirds have left the deep valleys of the Interior British Columbia. They spent some four months here, courting, fighting, raising the young, terrorizing spiders, chasing mosquitoes, pollinating flowers, visiting the hummingbird feeders and making people smile.

A ton of work for the smallest birds.

"Do you still have the hummingbirds?"
"No, they are gone."

And, so is the summer.

Black Chinned Hummingbird, female, was the last one to bid farewell on August 22nd.
It did not matter that the garden flowers were still in bloom.

But all of us here know that we can count on them being back in April. 

April 16th, maybe the 20th. No later than that! The feeders will be ready, new flowers planted.

Rufous Hummingbird, Selasphorus rufus, male.

The feisty Rufous males arrive first. The ruby flash of their throat brings everyone to their feet. 

Welcome back!

They immediately get down to business which means that May is a month of high male-related activity.

Their throats, normally dark and nearly black light up with metallic ruby red that is visible quite a long distance away.

MY TERRITORY!!!

But the Rufous must put up with more than their own kind. 

It does not take long and the small but fearless Calliope arrives. Males first, females a week later. They too start patrolling their sites.

     NO! MY TERRITORY!

Calliope Hummingbird, Selasphorus calliope, male

Then, of course, any dispute needs to be settled! They fight and fight and fight. They fight with the males of their own species and the chase away everyone else.

They fight over the territory, over the feeder, over the ... who knows what.

But then, the ladies arrive!

Hummingbird females show up later than the males. Without delay, they start checking out the nesting sites.




It is always a bit difficult to recognize who is who ... a  Rufous female or a Calliope?


I believe that this was a Rufous female.

Now the males become really active.
Aside from chasing their opponents and competitors they must to show off for the females.

Their courting strategies depend on species:
Rufous fly high up and then hurtle down kamikaze style while Calliope shoot up, only to come to an abrupt stop in mid-air and hang there like an evening star. 

The amount of energy spent is enormous but hopefully it will pay off.
The colours are flashing and the wings are buzzing and the feeder needs to be replenished twice daily.

And the ladies?

They watch from their secure spots, making their decisions.
And groom, of course. One has to be presentable at times like these!

Except... it is a bit difficult to have a good scratch with legs so short. 

Oh well, it will have to do.

Calliope female.

And while this Calliope male flies high and, like a gymnast on still rings, hovers in one place for quite a while, the female pays attention (hopefully).

9.5 out of 10. Not too bad!


Seriously, the boys don't have it easy at all.

As if there were not enough fighting and courting for the two, the 3rd hummingbird species shows up. 

Black-chinned hummingbirds!

Black-chinned Hummingbird, Archilochus alexandri, male.

These guys do arrive the latest but then they stay a bit longer while the others have gone. Smart strategy.

They are slimmer than the chunky Rufous and larger than the tiny Calliope.

Their courtship flight reminds of a pendulum swinging from side to side not too high off the ground while the female watches from a safe spot.

Black-chinned Hummingbird, Archilochus alexandri, female.

But when the courting and young rearing is done, the males disappear. They fly to the wild mountain meadows to enjoy their bachelor life. And as July draws to its end the females follow, then the young ones. By mid-August only a couple of introvert loners remain. The hummingbird year in the valley reaches its end. 

And those who did not manage to record the ruby, dark red or a purple flash of the feathered jewels have to wait for another year.

Hasta la vista!

Flying South, have a good winter and see you next Spring!






PS: 
There is one more hummingbird species in Southern BC, Anna's Hummingbird, Calypte anna .
Unfortunately it is more common by the Pacific Coast and still has to make an appearance in our backyard. 
But then, Calliope took its time to call our place a summer home too.

WESTERN SAND WASP, Bembix americana

They are small, they are fast and they are industrious.

They may have lived in the neighborhood of your patio for ages, and unless you graciously noticed them during their communal wedding day, you might not know of their existence at all.

Take a closer look and I bet that their large, green eyes will make you smile in admiration. 
Large? That is understandable. 
But why green?

Find one of the openings to a tunnel dug into sandy ground, plop on your belly and wait.

Lower yourself to their level! 

Yes, you, the all mighty human YOU!

THEY, the wasps, already know a whole lot about you - what you look like, how you smell, how hot you are. They probably sense your intentions too.

But what, if anything, do you know about them?

Patience. 

Observe!

It is more than difficult  to keep track of their movements while they dash back and fro. Here now, out of sight a millisecond later, they are the embodiment of the following quote: 

“Energy is liberated matter, matter is energy waiting to happen.” 

― Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything

And there is a LOT of energy pumped into those tiny bits of matter!

Sand wasps are solitary creatures and we are more likely to spot them sipping nectar from flowers then digging burrows in sand.

Yet, when the time comes they will hang together for the purpose higher than collecting nectar for themselves.

They emerge as if out of nowhere - both the males and the females at the same time. It does not take long and the place is abuzz, the wasps flying in zigzag patterns just some 20 centimeters above the ground. Some sport yellow stripes, some white or grayish ones. According to some authors, the yellow ones are females and the whitish ones are males. But more I learned, less sure I was.



According to one author, the female has a large beak-like structure right by its mouth. Something like a swollen upper lip.I am guessing it might serve as a hunting device - the females supply their larvae with small insects until they grow into adults. Pretty hard job, considering that the female digs several underground burrows, place one egg near a zombied insect, closes the tunnel and lets the egg hatch and start developing. But she has to make sure that each larva (inside its own burrow) does not starve after the initial food supply (re: small bug) is all gone. So the female hunts for more and supplies each burrow again. Wow.
No wonder that as an adult it has no more appetite for bug protein. It sips nectar instead.

When I took this photo I thought that the wasps were mating but after reading all the other articles it must be the female flying above a male  Note: the colours and the upper lip!
An attack of sorts, then?
The contact lasted a split of a second for everything about them is just a touch-and-go. Back to their solitary life.

The fine sand is flying at very high speed as this wasp methodically digs. Perhaps it is building an underground mansion for itself (definitely a male). It digs and digs, then crawls in and plugs the hole from the inside. Enough work for one day.

Pretty neat stuff.

For those who wish to learn more, there are nice couple of sites:

One: https://vancouverislandnature.wordpress.com/2012/09/28/the-sand-wasp-an-attentive-mother-terry-thormin/

Two: http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&context=piru_pubs

I photographed this green-eyed beauty a while ago - as an adult it was busy sipping nectar from thyme.

And by the large mandibles must be a female. But it has white stripes!!!! Confusing. Unless there is another reasoning for all that ...ah, as I mention at the beginning; there is still a whole lot to learn

The Pilgrimage: TYRRELL MUSEUM OF PALEONTOLOGY, Alberta, Canada

Photo by Alexandra T.M.

Ah, yes, the big Dino's roar! 

Just about 30 years ago, our young family set out on a trip.
New to the country and curious about everything in it, we drove west; from the vast prairie of central Canada towards the Rockies and beyond, all the way to the coast of the mighty Pacific Ocean. Our first BIG trip! The kids, 2 boys, were 11 and 9 years of age.
The start of our journey across the prairie was FLAT and the joke of the day was " throw a brick on the gas pedal and take a snooze. It will take about 4 hours to reach the province of Alberta."
Even then, the roads always seemed to lead from "here" to the edge of Earth. Only after reaching Calgary did the scenery change - quite rapidly - as the Rockies rose towards the sky.

At that time we were only discovering Canada and had no idea that millions of years ago the flat parts of Alberta were actually the bottom of a shallow sea. 

The Internet was not born yet and, being new to Canada, and traveling just with a road map, we were in for more than one surprise.

Just about and hour and a half before reaching Calgary the flat land caved in and descended into the series of canyons. Quite steeply, the highway snaked down, and out of blue we were surrounded by picturesque deposits of clay and sedimentary rocks that have been carved by the glaciers and eroded by the elements into the most intriguing shapes.

We were in the Canadian Badlands, known for the fossils, coal, ammolite and oil.

And in the middle of the valley we found a small town of Drumheller. That happened 30 years ago.

This year, 2016, we are traveling the same route, but there are several changes there. 

My hair is gray and, though my companions are 11 and 9, they are the kids of our 

"then the11 years old"  of 30 years ago. I am taking my Grand-kids to the place of their father's youth.

A pilgrimage of sorts!

This time we know exactly what we are up to. The Dinosaur Museum, the Hoodoos, Horse-thief Canyon and if time permits we should explore some coal mines. 
Challenging itinerary for the two days ahead.

The town of Drumheller has changed. From a small Prairie town with one hotel it grew into a tourist centre with several major hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions. But overall it still is a small, hospitable town of about 9 000 residents where everything is easy to find and easy to get to.

And its greatest attraction is still the dinosaur museum. 
World class by now and a subject of: T-Rex - Back to the Cretaceous (IMAX).
.

So lets go in.

Photo by Lucas T.M.

When Albertosaurus roars, one does not say "Catch me if you can."

One hides and does not move and hopes and prays for the largest hunter that ever roamed the planet NOT to spot or sniff out the trembling piece of protein that one has become.

Being a visual type, I always had a problem remembering big names. so this Time Scale really makes sense for me (and the most people I know). 

The kids seem to enjoy it as well.

They also enjoy their walk through time; from the Big Bang theory to the formation of water and the first simple organisms.  Everything is well explained.

Photo by Lucas T.M.

Ammonite shells found in Alberta's Badlands became a source of beautiful gemstone and jewellery called ammolite. Click and check it out, for this one never ceases to dazzle me with an array of deep colours of the long-dead sea.

As we keep going the life on Earth becomes more and more complex until we reach the dinosaur room.

They watch the scientists at work and at one point I hear the 9-year old commenting into her video camera: "I will become a Scientist just like those people here."

Well, that is some achievement on the Museum's part, I think. And I am proud, of course.

Well over three hours later with their SDs loaded with pictures and videos they are still interested and asking questions.

Talk about time well spent.

Afternoon is dedicated to the World's Smallest Church and Horse-thief Canyon. But to strike a good balance we also give a try to Go-carts. Life should be diverse.

Horse-thief Canyon is deep and convoluted. No wonder the horse thieves used to take their stolen animals down to the hideouts to re-brand them. Before I can stop them, the kids are down at the bottom, checking out the sediments, discovering cacti and generally haveng a time of their lifetime.



But the skies on the horizon are turning their colour. The bright blue is being replaced by the threatening blue-gray and, from time to time, the canola fields are illuminated by a flash of lightning. It is time to return to town!



Rain hits Drumhellerat five P.M. It is cold and hard and lasts all night. 

No worries; we had an active evening using the humongous water slide at Ramada Hotel.

And the morning? It smiled with blue skies and fluffy cumulus clouds making us believe that the time at hoodoos will be just great.

Red River that runs through the dinosaur valley rose in the volume that night. Pregnant with tiny clay particles it surely looked true to its name. Red.

And as we stepped off the hanging bridge we made another scientific discovery. It was not related to the coal mine on the other side of the bridge. 
It was all about the most slippery substance (we felt) on Earth. The bentonite clay!

Because of the slippery terrain we gave up the idea of visiting the remains of a nearby coal mine and continued to the hoodoos.  There too we had a hard time walking about; the clay was more than treacherous. So, our trip of 2016 ended up on the exactly the same note as the trip of 30 years ago. With two kids, covered in mud from head to toe! 

It was time to return to the mountains. And so we drove back over the terrain that used to be the reign of the mighty creatures that roamed the edges of Bearpaw Sea so many millions of years ago.

Driving I cannot stop imagining: 

I see lush tropical forests and swampy edges of an ancient sea. I see shadows of the mighty lizards roaming the canola fields. 

And I am thinking: 

Would it not be nice for my son and his grandchildren of 11 and 9 to have a chance to return and explore this most amazing place?

Perhaps at almost 100, I would be able to join! See you there!

Now, this brought tears to my eyes. 
My Mom (in the photo), who lived in Czech Republic, is now gone, but my sister in law who lives in Italy sent these after reading this Canadian Pilgrimage entry. 

Thanks Lucia.