These wild roses were blooming at the Tijuana Estuary, attracting several bees. This bumblebee stayed long enough for a few pics.
While hiking in on the De Anza Trail in Tumacacori, AZ, I ran across a large number of these large insects, some of them singly, some mating. At first I thought they were a type of Cicada, but my field guide shows them as Giant Mesquite Bugs, a type of leaf-footed bug. This is a male--the female has a bulb mid-way up the feelers. Kind of creepy, but interesting. 9/7/19 Judith Sparhawk
These two dragonflies were photographed at Salton Sea in southeast California. They are Blue Dashers, male on the left, female on the right. They are small--about 1-1/2 inches, and have a characteristic position of tail up in the air when resting on stalks near water. There were quite a lot of them flitting about one drainage ditch. At first I thought there were more than one species, but after studying the photos and my field guide, I realized the differences were just male and female. The details in body and wings show best in larger sizes. 8/10/19 Judith Sparhawk
