Over a dozen sunflowers are blooming in various places in the garden - and the bees are intimately familiar with all of them. Often times 2, 3 or more bees will be collecting pollen and nectar. Note the pollen-filled legs of these buzzing ladies. (Click on the photo for a larger version)
Besides the buzzing of bustling, busy bees, there is also the humming of dragon flies as they patrol the skies for mosquitoes and other flying, biting things. This one rests on the tip of my dead cherry tree. See - laziness on my part (in clearing the dead tree) provides a place to relax for this mighty hunter!
Speaking of hunters, not only gatherers frequent the sunflowers. Several of these spiders also frequent the sunflower disks. Their legs are a semi-translucent white color that picks up the yellow hue of the sunflowers - making them appear to be just a light yellow dot on the disk - nothing threatening looking at all. I haven't seen what it eats, yet, but a number of little gnat-like creatures also seek sustenance from the sunflower, so I suspect those are what this arachnid hunts.
Another hunter, but not of the insect or arachnid family - a local lizard that frequents the garden. Here it is chomping on an ant. We are fairly used to one another, so if I move slowly, I can often get withing 3 feet of this one before it scampers off. I try and back away before invading it's personal space, however, and I think this contributes to its tolerance of me.
Well, this critter is not allowed in the garden to place. He continues the canine tradition of the "race track" around the garden/chicken run, and so runs his laps while I am puttering around inside the fence.
