Gardening

Plucketeer

(12,882 posts)

22. unusual creatures flitting about ?

Sun Jul 8, 2012, 05:33 PM

Jul 2012

How's about a California Valley Carpenter Bee? Ever seen a solid gold bumble bee? The Male Valley Carpenter Bee is a rich gold color. They'll hover around a favored spot for hours. I once observed a swarm of these golden beauties that were inhabiting a decaying walnut tree. Quite a sight! The females are solid black and supposedly lie in wait to "ambush" males for amorous reasons. We normally see the females all summer long - checking out the various blooming plants in the yard. The males - we see only very rarely, but I was witness to one just the other day.

We do see sphinks and hawk moths thru the evening hours (with 100 tomato plants, I'm sure we foster some Sphinks unwittingly. And hummingbirds! We have 3 species that spend their summers here and a couple that just pass thru. I'm currently going thru 8 quarts of hummingbird nectar every two days, so you can imagine the traffic!

Edit to add link: http://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/hymenopt/Xylocopa.htm

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UPDATE!!----Flies like a humming bird, looks like a bee! [View all] beac Jul 2012 OP

Unusual creatures flitting about my place this year? Denninmi Jul 2012 #1

LOL. beac Jul 2012 #14

You spied "him" on a phlox? Beartracks Jul 2012 #2

Actually, I guessed, but it turns out I was right! beac Jul 2012 #3

Been doing some more reading on these creatures... beac Jul 2012 #4

Great picture, and I wasn't aware of such a moth. dmosh42 Jul 2012 #5

I saw one a few evenings ago. Ednahilda Jul 2012 #6

I always associate moths with evening and night spottings too. beac Jul 2012 #15

I was in the house watching something on PBS Ednahilda Jul 2012 #17

I don't blame those bees for being furious. beac Jul 2012 #18

Well, now I'm stumped. Several years ago I was in Montreaux, Switzerland hedgehog Jul 2012 #7

Some other species of Sphinx moth. Denninmi Jul 2012 #8

It must have been a sphinx moth. It was about the size of a bumble bee, hedgehog Jul 2012 #9

Yours sounds tinier than the one I saw. beac Jul 2012 #13

+1 some Peeps think they are humming birds, but they are sphinx moths! n/t hue Jul 2012 #11

That's cool and definitely looks like a hummingbird-lobster GMO experiment gone bad. Gormy Cuss Jul 2012 #10

Yikes! I just about shrieked seeing it behind the safety of my computer screen. beac Jul 2012 #12

They taste like chicken. alfredo Jul 2012 #19

Beautiful! I knew about them. Would love to see one in person. Solly Mack Jul 2012 #16

Seen them in Arizona and I know they're here in Texas and they also spin tussah silk. marble falls Jul 2012 #20

Looks more like a flying shrimp to me. obxhead Jul 2012 #21

Shrimp is certainly a better match to its size. beac Jul 2012 #25

unusual creatures flitting about ? Plucketeer Jul 2012 #22

We only have ruby-throated hummingbirds here, but they beac Jul 2012 #23

UPDATE: beac Jul 2012 #24

wow! Skittles Jul 2012 #26

Another shot of her: beac Jul 2012 #27

she's a beaut! Skittles Jul 2012 #31

The "female of the species" may or may not be "more deadly than the male" beac Jul 2012 #32

LOL Skittles Jul 2012 #33

It's a hummingbird moth. They aren't that uncommon. It's just uncommon to see one. HopeHoops Jul 2012 #28

And I never have before, but now I am seeing one every day. beac Jul 2012 #29

Consider yourself lucky. They pollinate quite well. HopeHoops Jul 2012 #30

Flies like a humming bird, looks like a bee? Possibly Muhammad Ali? NeedleCast Jul 2012 #34

Yay, somebody got my veiled reference! beac Jul 2012 #35

The offspring are the great tomato hornworms. BlueToTheBone Jul 2012 #36

Interesting... TuxedoKat Aug 2012 #37

We've had them here. Lugnut Aug 2012 #38