I have not been very diligent about posting here, but I have continued to follow the directive I set for myself in 2016 to photograph and identify the bees and other insects that inhabit my garden.

Aliens in My Garden is a series capturing the fascinating insects that inhabit my small, urban garden. While many of these tiny creatures are native, the title is a reference to their otherworldliness.

I think part of my hesitancy in posting is recognizing that I am a total novice. This is an area of much new learning for me, and I feel shy about asserting any identifications that I make. Just between bees and wasps alone the range of diversity in my small urban garden is exciting, but daunting. I am slowly learning, so please know that while I take care in trying to consult numerous sources in the hopes that I am getting it right, the insect identifications I make here are a bit wobbly. I am no authority.

I captured this tiny Ligated Sweat Bee (Halictus ligatus) resting inside the soft cup of a creamy tulip last April. The little critters are a common sight in the garden. I think this is because they are generalists that pollinate all sorts of flowers, and there’s always something blooming in my garden from the earliest days of the season until the last. They like to nest in the ground and I have loose, sandy soil, especially the area in the middle of the garden that I don’t amend that I refer to as the Dry Bed.

Resources

I have a range of insect information and identification books in my personal library, but when it comes to bees, I tend to reach for the following:

• The Bees in Your Backyard: A Guide to North America’s Bees by Joseph S. Wilson
• Bees, Wasps, and Ants: The Indispensable Role of Hymenoptera in Gardens by Eric Grissel
• Bees of Toronto freely available through the City of Toronto Biodiversity Series

Links to books in this post are associated with an affiliate account that garners a small fee that I then put towards purchasing books to review and giveaway.