Anthophora walshii, f, back, Pennington Co., SD
Anthophora walshii, f, back, Pennington Co., SD
We go, once again, to one of my favorite parts of the world, the Badlands of South Dakota. Among several types of Anthophora exists a nicely woke-up white banded species called Anthophora walshii. This species has an interesting distribution, it is almost entirely found in the prairies bumping up to the western mountain ranges. But, this species also shows up in a few coastal islands, such as Martha's Vineyard, Long Island, and islands off of Rhode Island just to make us wonder whether there used to be more of these prairie bees around than we thought. And, whether we need to reconsider are often automatic action of planting trees on every piece of land that isn't in motion. Photographed by Anders Croft.
We Are Made One with What We Touch and See
We are resolved into the supreme air,
We are made one with what we touch and see,
With our heart's blood each crimson sun is fair,
With our young lives each spring impassioned tree
Flames into green, the wildest beasts that range
The moor our kinsmen are, all life is one, and all is change.
- Oscar Wilde. Original public domain image from Flickr