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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

I can’t help but share this photo of #clouds I took this morning. No AI or Photoshop, just amazing #sky. #weather #meteorology

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

A cool autumn day saw this red admiral warming up on my south-facing fence. #bugsky #insect 🪲 🌱

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 17/08/2025

Headed toward late summer and the yellow-faced #bumblebees are busy on my Echinacea. See her tongue seeking deep in the flower for nectar and all the pollen on her legs? The other bumble bees have all but disappeared. May they find safety and return next Spring! #bugsky #nature #garden 🌱 🪲

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

This hover #fly, Myathropa, visited my yarrow today. Apparently the larvae live in decaying plant material, so this pic could belong in #simplecompost.bsky.social, #learndirt, #bugsky, #gardens, or #insects 🪲🌱

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

Two #wasps for #InsectThursday. A tiny parasitic wasp (Chalcidoidea) and a Great Golden Sand Digger (Sphex ichneumonoides). Both on goldenrod. The flowers give a sense of scale. #bugsky #garden 🌱 🪲

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

For #InsectThursday a beautiful hover fly (Syrphidae:Lapposyrphus) arriving at cilantro blooms in my #Garden. What a lucky shot! 🌱 🪲 #bugsky #Syrphidae #Fly #learndirt When your cilantro bolts, let it!

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

A poignant image of a mason #bee that died while provisioning her nest. When I found her I was inspired and a little sad. #InsectThursday #bugsky 🪲 🌱

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

#InsectThursday celebrated with this mining #bee (Andrena) carrying her load of pink pollen from the feral buckwheat in my #Garden #Pollinator #bugsky 🪲🌱

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

I have planted many flowers in my #garden to attract beneficial #insects (pollinators, predators, parasitoids). Most recent success was showy milkweed, shown here being visited by a braconid wasp hours after first blossom opened. #bugsky #learndirt 🪲 🌱

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

#InsectThursday in the Generous Garden features this Snipe #Fly, family Rhagionidae. This one evidently has just emerged from the pupal stage spent in the #soil since its cuticle is in the process of becoming sclerotized and tanned (hardened). #bugsky 🪲 🌱 #learndirt

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

Here is a beautiful little cuckoo #wasp (Chrysididae) I would not have seen except that it drowned in the bird bath. “Cuckoo” because they are nest parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other wasps or bees so their larvae can steal the food intended for their host. #bugsky 🪲 🌱

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

Happy #InsectThursday! BeeMachine (great app, in case you haven’t discovered it) is certain this mining #bee is Andrena milwaukeensis. This is the first time I’ve seen it in my garden. Here it is visiting meadowfoam (Limnanthes), which attracts many different bees. #bugsky 🌱 🪲

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Reposted by Bruce Congdon

Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 10/05/2025

So quick to get back underground, ground #beetle larvae are difficult to #photograph. This is the best I’ve managed so far. But I love having them in the #garden eating slugs and root maggots! #bugsky 🪲🌱

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 10/05/2025

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Reposted by Bruce Congdon

Senator Patty Murray @murray.senate.gov · 10/05/2025

Trump is decimating the Forest Service & firing the very people who help save our communities. Not only that, but he wants to eliminate FEMA entirely. He's not just gutting the work to prevent fires—but also the work to rebuild after disaster strikes. I'm sounding the alarm.

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Reposted by Bruce Congdon

Just Me - Yarn Sniffer @creative-flunky.bsky.social · 10/05/2025

In this time of uncertainty, fear, open hate and ignorance - there is still beauty and wonder. This perfect being exists. Adorable bee's bum. Love this image. #nature #insect #bee #bum #butt #cute

A fluffy bee butt covered in pollen hanging out of a light purple flower. The two little back legs are draped over the flower.

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

On this #InsectThursday I couldn’t decide whether to be sad or happy. I love crab spiders and #honeybees and blueberries. This crab #spider hid on a blueberry blossom and ambushed this honeybee. See the tiny drop of venom on the sting? Ah the drama in the #garden! #bugsky 🪲🌱

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

#InsectThursday Western Conifer Seed Bug poked his head out. #bugsky 🪲🌱

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

#InsectThursday one day late. I found this tiny rove #beetle on the brim of my hat when I stopped weeding and transplanting onion sets to eat lunch. I hope he was eating the onion maggots that are thinning out my onions! 🪲 🌱 #bugsky #learndirt

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

On a road trip, stopped in #WallaceIdaho and saw this beautiful #stonefly on a wall (not far from the stream that runs through town). 🪲 #bugsky

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

#InsectThursday in my garden features this click beetle. Not much to look at, and her babies sometimes eat the roots of my lettuce plants. But she still belongs here! #bugsky #learndirt 🌱 🪲

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

After a long winter, this California Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis californica), worn thin but undaunted, came to visit the heather in my #garden. If you are feeling like this #butterfly looks, take #courage! #bugsky #InsectThursday one day late 🌱 🪲

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

The first kleptoparasitic #bee of the spring, a blood bee (Sphecodes) covered in dandelion pollen. #bugsky #garden 🌱🪲

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

I caught this sweat #bee (Lasioglossum) “stealing” nectar from a kale flower by chewing a hole in the base of the corolla. Happy #InsectThursday! #bugsky #entomology 🌱 🪲

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

This small wolf #spider crawled to the top of a kale plant, 1 m high, and spun some loose webbing. A breeze came up and it pointed downwind and let out a strand of silk. I did not see it fly away, but I am pretty sure this is ballooning. #bugsky 🪲 🌱

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

Anthophora! Digger #bees are another welcome sign of Spring! This one was inspecting blooms on overwintered kale. #bugsky #learndirt #insects 🌱🪲

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

This is Hylaeus, a small bee in the “cellophane bee” family. Her common name is yellow faced #bee. Our spring is still rather cold, but the kale and dandelions are blooming so the bees and sunny days should return soon. #learndirt #garden #insect #pollinators 🌱🪲

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

It’s official! The first Andrena (mining #bee) of the spring warming up on the south-facing siding of my house, after spending the winter underground. #bugsky #learndirt #insect 🌱🪲

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 23/03/2025

It is that time of year when I often lose a few lettuce transplants to wireworms like the one pictured here. This #insect lives in the #soil where it nibbles on roots. It is the larval stage of a click #beetle. #learndirt #bugsky 🌱🪲

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

The bees haven’t emerged yet, so I practiced taking photos of #insects. Here is a flesh fly (Sarcophagidae) sipping nectar from rosemary. #bugsky #garden 🌱🪲

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

#InsectThursday in the #generousgarden features this ground #beetle. Picture Insect places it in the genus Platynus, but with 34,000 species in this family (per BugGuide), I am not sure. Happy to have them patrolling the #garden and #compost. #learndirt #bugsky 🌱 🪲

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

Today was the annual hauling of the #compost from bin to #garden. This male Hacklemesh #Spider was one of a multitude of bugs I saw and I made sure he was released unharmed. #bugsky #learndirt #spidersky 🪲 🌱

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

Happy #InsectThursday one day early. This Long-Horned #Bee (Melissodes) was one of the only #insect visitors to calendula last summer, and I did not see it anywhere else. #pollinator #learndirt 🌱🪲

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

Last summer I found this spider wasp (Pompilidae:Tachypompilus) patrolling my #garden soil for #spiders to paralyze and leave in her nest for her young. I’m amazed by the number of #wasp species that make a living this way. 🌱🪲 #learndirt #bugsky

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

Good to know green lacewings are out and about in the #garden in early March, ready to eat aphids once they appear. #bugsky #learndirt #generousgarden #insect 🌱🪲

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

#InsectThursday I was gently cleaning weeds out of the herb garden so as to disturb the #bugs in the soil and litter as little as possible, when this handsome ground #beetle walked out from the moss. #learndirt 🌱 🪲

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

What was this #woodlouse (Porcellio scanner) doing snooping around up in the #bee nesting house? Usually I see them under rotting logs, where they help the decay process by eating wood and pooping ground-up fibers for fungi to work on. New lessons every day in the #garden! #learndirt 🪲🌱

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

I did not pay much attention to this spurge laurel (turns out it is toxic, and invasive in N America) until I saw the first honey #bee of Spring 2025 in my #garden. #bugsky 🌱 #learndirt She found lots of pollen!

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

The lady beetle has escaped this pupal case, which still clings to a tree. Remains of the spiny last larval skin are in a wad at the top end. 🪲#insect #bugs #biology

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

Last August I sowed crimson clover in this #garden bed. The back half is still growing. I cut the front half about an inch deep with this diamond point hoe. Roots and tops will decompose adding organic matter and N! 🌱🪲 @learndirt.bsky.social

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

#InsectThursday Robber Fly eating an aphid! One of many reasons I encourage #insect diversity in my #garden. @learndirt.bsky.social @bugsky.bsky.social 🌱🪲

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

Atop a wood fence post (see the growth rings?) near my #garden I was greeted this morning by this Bronze Jumping #Spider. Those “boxing gloves” below the eyes are used by this male to transfer sperm. #bugsky @learndirt.bsky.social 🪲🌱

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

This Black and Yellow Mud Dauber #wasp found the leak in my #garden drip irrigation system. She is holding a load of mud with mandibles and front legs, ready to fly to her growing nest, which she will provision with spiders. 🕷️ @learndirt.bsky.social 🌱🪲 #insect #entomology

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

I am deeply troubled about what is happening to #science, health, #climate, leadership, human rights, and #democracy. At the same time, I do not want to lose sight of beauties like this beewolf. Think of the millions of years it has persisted! Keep on doing what you can! 🪲🌱

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

On this #InsectThursday an odd creature called a snakefly. I see adults just a few times a year. But digging in my #compost I saw this larva, an amazing #bug that can run backwards almost as fast as forwards! Both eat other small bugs. 🌱🪲 @learndirt.bsky.social #garden #insect

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

This western conifer seed bug decided to come out of diapause today. Spring must be around the corner! 🌱🪲 #insect #Nature #bugsky

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Bruce Congdon @generousgarden.bsky.social · 15/02/2025

Today in @generousgarden a wolf spider. That white ball is her egg sac, carried and protected until her babies hatch. She is an active hunter of #garden pests, common if you use #covercrops, #compost, and living borders. @learndirt.bsky.social #insect #spider 🌱

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