Sunshine!

I know that this is the third bee I've blipped this week, but I just couldn't resist. There is something about the brightness of this shot that I really like and every time I was all set to blip the red-backed salamander (my first!), I kept coming back to this shot. I think that this bee is in the genus Andrena but beyond that, I am uncertain as to what exactly it is. It is less than a half inch in length, probably closer to a quarter inch or around 1 cm. I didn't do anything to this image other than crop it.

The day started with a 3 1/2 hour walk through the woods and along the lakes with the Audubon group. It was a great time as always - lots of birds (kestrel, osprey, blue-gray gnatcatcher, hermit thrush, wood duck, bluebirds, eastern phoebe, northern harrier, bald eagle, great blue heron, northern flicker, and a few others that I can't recall at the moment.) The highlight for me was seeing the salamander. One of the naturalists on the trip turned over some large rocks by a vernal pond and we were rewarded with this little guy. After several of us poked our cameras in his face, he was carefully returned to his rock and scurried underneath, probably thanking the salamander gods that he hadn't been eaten!

Back home for lunch then out to the garden to potter around. In addition to several bees, I saw the first signs of possible nesting activity at one of my nest boxes! The chickadee couple were in and out of the box, spending several minutes at a time inside - that's a promising sign. I had thought that they might be nesting in an old woodpecker hole somewhere in the woods since I hadn't seen any signs of use at any of the nest boxes, so let's keep our fingers crossed...

Also snagged a good shot of a female purple finch showing her distinctive pale eyebrows and another shot of this little bee, showing his bulging eyes and little blond goatee.

Still no signs of hummers, but it is early yet. Usually we don't see them here until the last week of April/first of May. I'm keeping fresh nectar in the feeder ... I'm ready!

Hoping everyone is having a great weekend - I'll check in later after dinner. Tonight's menu is seared diver scallops, grilled asparagus and a nice big salad. And I think some nice NZ Savignon blanc ... in my opinion, the NZ savignons are the best!

xxoo
Debbi