I’ve renewed my Chattanooga Nature Center membership for the first time in a long time this year – long overdue, I’d say – and have been over there a few times over the past couple of weeks. The CNC membership includes access to Reflection Riding, where there are areas in which they have allowed free roam of several fields by wild plants. In those fields many late summer wildflowers are blooming now, and probably the biggest show right now is the massive growth of Bidens aristosa – Tickseed Sunflower.
While this display is beautiful, it’s not just the human visitors who are enjoying the flowers. The number of flying insect buzzing, flitting, and darting around the blossoms is staggering. Below photos of a few of them. I don’t know my insects, so if someone has identification information, I’d really appreciate a comment or email.
Enjoy; the bugs sure did. Click on a photo for a larger image.
Based on a post by Jim McCormac over at the Ohio Birds and Biodiversity blog, I believe the insect in photo #1 is a Blue-winged Wasp – Scolia dubia.
Blue-winged Wasp – Scolia dubia; Tickseed Sunflower
For the rest of the photos, read the rest of the story…