Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Bees-Eye View

 Its hot, hot, hot in the valley, and on those few days with
cloud cover, there is a lot on energy in the atmosphere.

 The fields have turned brown, with little patches of wildflower color
between the various crops.  We're traveling to McMinnville for a bit
of Goodwill scavenging and the best Dairy Queen blizzards around.

The grasses are already being harvested, and the dry soil is
kicking up all over.

 Back home we have more moisture with the ponds, oak grove,
various stands of conifers, and nearby river.  Its brown at human-
eye level, but the bees (and the boys) enjoy a summer wonderland.

 There are native wildflowers sprinkled with a few species we
added back when this was a fairly lifeless post-agriculture plot.
The clovers and lupines added nitrogen to the soil, and
each year new species arrive and stay.

 This year we have the most diverse group of bees and wasps
yet, so when you lay down to take a ground-level photo, you
are surrounded by a haze of buzzing noises.

No comments: