In the mountains I saw quite a few Yarrow plants in bloom, and on one of them was this wasp, a type I'd never seen before. Back at home, my field guide helped me figure out it was a type of Solitary Wasp, the thread-waisted type. It mostly looked like a Great Golden Digger Wasp (great name), but it is supposed to have red legs. The other possibles weren't quite right either. I think I'm going to have to settle for "wasp" or Solitary Wasp. 7/13/21 www.sparhawkphotography.com
Now that I'm sitting out on my patio in the mornings, I've been seeing the butterflies that fly by. Most of them flit in, look around and fly on out. This monarch buzzed by the flowers, and stopped briefly at the lantana plant. 7/16/21 www.sparhawkphotography.com
When out in the lavender fields there were lots of bees and a few butterflies flitting in the flowers. Most of them were on the wing, but this skipper sat long enough for a couple of shots. I wasn't able to ID exactly which skipper it was--there are so many similar ones. 7/6/21 www.sparhawkphotography.com
