Despite having dipped below freezing on three mornings in the past week, we do still have some hardy plants flowering. One of these is Goldentop, Euthamia graminifolia. I notice in that Nov 6 2006 post that the same little bees were abundant on the flowers in the warm sunshine. That was the year these goldentops appeared, as if by magic, around the back border of the Hyla pond. Their dense masses are welcome this time of year!



I had previously referred to them as little wasps, but Bev suggested bees and indeed I think they’re one of the halictids, sweat bees. This bugguide photo bears a fair resemblance. It’s of Halictus rubicundus, the Polymorphic Sweat Bee, although there are a number of alternative species in this genus and they’re hard to distinguish without looking at microscopic features. Ours don’t have quite the robust femurs and coloration of legs that H. rubicundus does.

Apparently this little bee shows social behavior in warmer climates, and solitary behavior in cold ones, with a mixture in marginal environments. I suppose it is these little wild bees, among many others, that we look to to pollinate plants in the disturbing decline of honeybees.

A few days ago I mentioned the white roadside asters that have been flowering lately. These are probably Symphyotrichum dumosum, Bushy Aster, given the small linear leaves densely covering the inflorescence stems.

The Halictus was also enthusiastic over these flowering masses.

As well, a few days ago, I mentioned the single flower of Late Purple Aster, S. patens. Yesterday it had plumped out a bit into quite a few more flowers.



And the Halictus is just as happy with these. I hadn’t noticed the tiny insect to the bee’s left until I looked at the photos.



I really don’t have much of an idea of what this is, unless it’s another leaf hopper (the way it carries its wings is similar to the one Bev drew my attention to a few weeks ago), but here are some poor crops: