Scat reveals abundance of predators

Today I went for a hike around Long Lake on the Colville National Forest. Along the way, I noticed lots of scat along the lakeside trail showing how abundant a particular predator is in this area.

Bee licks rocks

Bumblebees often licked river rocks at Kootenai River Campground, especially early in the morning. The rocks appeared dry. Perhaps minerals or some vital trace unnoticeable to my eyes drew them.

Bee works during compost tour

A tiny bee works to pollinate a wildflower near a compost bin at St. David's Community Garden. The bee worked while a group of city officials and activists attended a compost tour to raise support for curbside composting in Austin.

Photos from the tour

KXAN | Compost tour spreads awareness of local composting efforts

Bee trio pollinates squash

A trio of bees pollinate a squash flower, while a tiny ant also seeks nectar.

Bumble bee pollinates

A bumble bee buries its head in a blossom while scouting a forest of flower stalks at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. 

Bumble bee on blue sage

A bumble bee pollinates blue sage (Salvia farinacea).

Bee on white flower

A bee pollinates a white flower at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

St. Edward's flowers bloom

While attending AccessU, the annual accessibility conference held at St. Edward's University, I took a stroll around campus to admire the flowers in bloom. A white pricklypoppy, Argemone albiflora, frames the university's Main Building.

Bee on thisle

A bee nestles into a Texas thistle (Cirsium texanum) at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

Tiny bee on yellow flower

A tiny bee pollinates a golden flower at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

Bee on chocolate flower

While at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, I was stunned by the view from the Visitor's Gallery. It's a patio overlooking a grassy meadow and karst landscape. These chocolate flowers were among the most fragrant I've smelled. No wonder the bees favored them over other nearby blossoms.

Yellow bee

A bee covered in pollen buzzes frantically from flower to flower in a patch of firewheel a.k.a Indian blanket (Gaillardia pulchella).

More than a drink

As a bee drinks nectar from a wine cup blossom, large white granules of pollen stick to her back.

Pollen bee

A bee speckled with pollen approaches a wildflower.

Bees on sunflower

Broccoli bee

A bee, legs laden with pollen, hovers near a cluster of broccoli blossoms in search of food.

Bee on snapdragon

While tending to the pollinator garden at Gardens at Gus Garcia, about a dozen bees hovered around the snapdragons. Bees loaded with pollen are such a joy to see up close. Tillery Plant Co. regularly donates their surplus plants to help keep the garden in bloom.

Bee in cucumber

Cucumbers won't produce fruit if they aren't pollinated. Thank you miss bee!

Basil bee

A bee sips nectar from a cinnamon basil flower.

Bee clapper

If you know bell anatomy, you'll know the part that strikes the bell to make the sound is called a clapper. This bee went from flower to flower, wiggling in close, seeming to transform into a bell clapper. What a cute way to honor this flower's name -- yellow bell, also known as esperanza.