Our pollinator friends

 These past few days has been declared International Pollinator Week, While I am not certain how widely it is known or advertized, it is recognized here in Canada and although most of the week is over, you can still learn more about it here.

There is no question that pollinators are invaluable for a variety of reasons, and this post will feature a few that I have been able to photograph. The larval stages of some invertebrates will overwinter inside the stems of plants, which is why it is helpful for them to not clean up all the dead plant material in the fall. Let it stand until spring and you might have a lot more helpful pollinators attending to your plants!

American Sand Wasp

Bicolored Sweat Bee

Butterfly Milkweed is a popular flowering plant that attracts pollinators in the early part of the season. It is coming into flower nicely these days.

Here is a type of Bumble Bee busily pollinating one of my tomato plants.

Common Drone Fly

Eastern Bumblebee

This Dark Paper Wasp, next, while it is on the hunt for another insect to potentially feed on or carry off to feed to its developing young, may pollinate flowers in the process.

Eastern Calligrapher

Five-banded Thynnid Wasp

Margined Leatherwing

Margined Calligrapher

Lunate Longhorn-Cuckoo

Louisiana Painted-Dark Bee

Long-legged Fly

Lemon Cuckoo-Bumble Bee

Flower Longhorn Beetle

Wedge-shaped Beetle

Two-spotted Longhorn Bee

Two-spotted Bumblebee

Thick-headed Fly

On this next one, the Swift Feather-legged Fly, you can see the feather-like features on its lower legs. Look closely!

Swift Feather-legged Fly

Soldier Fly

Small Milkweed Bug

Not everyone associates moths as pollinators, but they do indeed pollinate flowers. It isn't always easy to find them doing so, but here are two that I have photographed in action.

Snowberry Clearwing

Orange-spotted Pyrausta

So please 'bee' kind to our insect friends!

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