Parsley flower watching
In the last few days, whenever I walk past my wife's vegetable garden I have to drop whatever I'm doing and go get the camera. The parsley plants have gone to flower and they are covered with nectaring insects.
I observed more than a dozen taxa, some of which I've identified - with the help of iNat and BugGuide.
There were lots of flies: hoverflies - thick-legged (Syritta pipiens) and Villa sp.; thick-headed flies (Theocophora sp.); and cool little tachinids (Gymnosoma sp.) as well as ugly unidentified ones.
Among the Hymenoptera were masked bees (Hylaeus sp.), spider wasps (Calopompilus pyrrhomelas), vespids, and Ichneumonids (Ichneumon sp.).
Several of these taxa were new to me: Theocophora sp., Hylaeus sp. , Calopompilus pyrrhomelas, and Ichneumon sp..
I just wish I could have a few more hours of good Parsley-watching weather. But it's getting cold and rainy now, so I expect the show is over.
I wonder what I'll find next year.
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It would be such fun to document EVERY possible insect that visits a single plant. Great observations, Steve. :)
Thanks, Sam.
Next year I plan to tag observations on nectaring insects in my yard with the name of the plant the insect was visiting. It is easy to do and fun to keep track of.
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