Being honest, I am a disappointed in the lack of goldenrod (genus Solidago) in my pasture while the neighbor’s field across the fence has solid patches of yellow. It is the last significant nectar bearing flower for bees to build up winter stores. However watching my few sparse patches of the wildflower have yielded some cool critters. It seems they have migrated from my buckwheat plantings to the wild goldenrod. (Past posts on pollinators in my buckwheat: 1, 2, 3)

I’ve seen my honeybees in the patches, but have not bee able to capture any images.

Previously in buckwheat, I’ve seen Great Golden Digger Wasp (Sphex ichneumoneus) but this time around I learned they hunt many other undesirable bugs like crickets and are very docile to humans. Here is one sharing a flower with a pair of young carpenter bees:

Next are the reason every black locust tree on my farm looks pitiful. They are a longhorn beetle that mimic the coloration of hornets to deter predators. Megacyllene robiniae or as the common name suggests, locust borer, feed on the bark and wood of locust trees as larvae.