She's Your Friend

I used to be one of those people who automatically thought all wasps were bad and out to get me.  I've learned that I was totally wrong.  Take this Mexican Grass Carrying Wasp, for example.  She's a wonderful pollinator and as an adult, she only eats pollen.  She hunts for tree crickets and katydids which is what she feeds her larvae, but only after securing the eggs in a cavity lined with grass.  She is about 3/4 inch long and can often be seen flying through the air trailing a long piece of grass, headed to her nursery.  Although the females of this species have stingers (it's how they paralyze their crickets) they will only sting a human if severely provoked.  I have noticed over they years that they have a definite preference for mountain mint, which is what this one is feeding on.  The tiny bees like sweat bees seem to enjoy the mints but also all the rudbeckias.  And so on. Just some useless observations.

We had a nice FT visit with my parents this morning.  Always a good way to start any day.  

The temps were cooler today, only in the high 70's so I spent much of the day outside.  I'm stilling fiddling with the Laowa lens I rented.  I am definitely struggling with the manual focus!  These eyes aren't as young as they once were - that's my story and I'm sticking with it.  This image was taken with my 300 mm PF lens on the z8.  I am putting an image in Extra that I took of the most brazen of the juvenile hummers - and I took it with the 105 macro lens!  Yes, he was that close.

I think dark with cherries and almonds will be the choice today.

xo
Debbi