Pollinators On My Berry Tree

Now that my Indian Blackberry/Syzygium cumini tree is blooming, I'm keeping track of all the pollinators that come to the blossoms. Here's a skipper. There's a bee in the photo below.

The Common Crow butterfly came to feed yesterday, rather late in the afternoon.

A Peacock Pansy butterfly and a hoverfly (maybe) in the background.

I couldn't get a better picture of a Grass Yellow butterfly busy feeding.

Among all the pollinators, the bees are the largest in number. Some are larger  than the one in this picture.


I'm linking up to Nature Notes.

Nature Notes/More Bird & Insect Activity

There was a lot of twittering in my neighbourhood this morning. It was a pair of red-vented bulbuls flying to and fro from the coconut tree to the star fruit tree. I got a good view from my upstairs balcony and quickly got these pictures.

Don't you love that crest? Although my reference book on birds say that both sexes look alike, there's no mention that the female is slightly smaller. But I guessed this must be the female. The female of the pair that had nested in one of my small trees about four years ago looked like this one.

Although the male had bits and pieces of nesting material on its beak, I don't think a nest will be built on any of the trees that I had mentioned.

When I went to check some time later it was all quiet and there was no sign of the pair.

The few zinnias that I planted are attracting plenty of insects. I didn't notice the tiny spider till I had loaded the photos in the computer.

After several months, it's a welcome sight to see one of the ringed butterflies resting on a (gerbera daisy) leaf.

Hoverflies on a calendula and below is a Plain Tiger butterfly feeding on coreopsis.

It's a good feeling to know (when I'm inside the house) that there's always some beautiful insect or bird waiting to be seen, admired, and photographed. 


To see other participants' posts, click here.

Carpenter Bees

In my neighbourhood, I often see two types of carpenter bees. One is black with metallic hues on its wings and the other one is smaller with a deep yellow on its chest. Dead bamboo that I often use to stake my plants are the favourite haunts of the first one. They fly in circles and come back to the same perch giving me the opportunity to take my photos.

Carpenter bees are large, hairy bees distributed worldwide. They get their name from the fact that they build their nests in burrows in dead  wood, bamboo, or structural timber. Wiki says that carpenter bees are traditionally considered solitary bees, though some species have simple social nests in which mothers and daughters may cohabit. However, even solitary species tend to be gregarious, and often several will nest near each other. It has been occasionally reported that when females cohabit, there may be a division of labor between them, where one female may spend most of her time as a guard within the nest, motionless and near the entrance, while another female spends most of her time foraging for provisions. Source.

Here's a closer look at the precision round holes they make on dead bamboo. Doesn't this remind you of a flute? 

It's difficult to capture the yellow-chested one as it moves so rapidly. But I included this image because the colour is so striking, especially against that black.