Suddenly, I Find Two Things Are Connected...

On July 3 I posted a picture of an unusual bee. Or so I thought. I submitted it to the Univ. of Illinois to identification (I had more pictures than the one here) and they identified it as a "Bee Mimic". It is actually a fly.

On July 7 I found a young dead rabbit in my yard. We have had a couple over the last few years, and two this year. We have been wondering if someone in the neighborhood has been poisoning them.

Now I find out that the fly that was identified is a Cuterebra Abdominalis. Which is a parasite of the Eastern Cottontail Rabbit. Young rabbits that get a large number of the Cuterebra Abdominalis larvae, which lodge in the throat, can be fatal to them.

I think I have a serious parasitic life cycle going on under my deck.

Serious Thanks to the folks at Bee Spotter.

Bees!! Glorious Bees!!

So this morning I did my every other day morning bee check. Took Buddy out with me and I am down looking at the squash hoping to spot a squash bee and I hear the ubiquitous "Whassat Daddy", look up and my son is about to get ahold of this guy:

Not sure what kind of bee it is, but its about 2 inches long. Sent a photo off to U of I to get some help identifying it. Buddy was trying to pick it up, so I stopped him and grabbed the camera. Then I continued my tour out front and LO AND BEHOLD the BEES HAVE ARRIVED! Here is my first official spotting of a honey bee, they are all over my Delphiniums! Now I have to figure out how to get them to move to my tomatoes.

There are actually a whole bunch of different types of bees out there including some paper wasps, honey bees, a couple of different bumble bees, etc. Now I just need my beloved squash bees to come back!