{"id":105277,"date":"2022-08-21T03:40:36","date_gmt":"2022-08-21T09:40:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=105277"},"modified":"2024-07-05T03:03:04","modified_gmt":"2024-07-05T08:03:04","slug":"common-sunflower-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/08\/21\/common-sunflower-photos\/","title":{"rendered":"Common Sunflower Photos"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CommonCommon Sunflower, Blister Beetle, two flies and a bee \u2013 Nikon D500, f11, 1\/1000, ISO 640, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This morning I wanted to share my recent Common Sunflower photos from Bear River MBR and some of the insects that pollinate these native wildflowers.<\/p>\n

This image shows the sunflower with a Blister Beetle, a possible Long-horned Bee, a Common Green Bottle Fly and at the top right a Flesh Fly. The flies and the beetle may be accidental pollinators.<\/p>\n

\"CommonCommon Sunflower with a Blister Beetle \u2013 Nikon D500, f11, 1\/1000, ISO 640, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

A Blister Beetle and I once met in Georgia where I was washing my dogs in the front yard. The beetle crawled up my jeans to get away from the soaking ground then proceeded to crawl up my back under my shirt. I literally thought my back was on fire and my shirt was in flames. The path the beetle left on my back was at least 4 inches wide and went from my waistband to the middle of my shoulder blades. The path was purple, green, yellow and blistered.<\/p>\n

Blister Beetles<\/span><\/a> excrete a toxic body fluid called cantharidin through their leg joints. Cantharidin is a colorless and odorless fatty fluid that is toxic and can cause blisters upon contact.<\/p>\n

Now that I know Blister Beetles are easily found on these wild sunflowers I’ll never walk among them again!<\/p>\n

\"CommonCommon Sunflower and a fly \u2013 Nikon D500, f11, 1\/1000, ISO 640, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I don’t often see Common Green Bottle Flies on these wild sunflowers so seeing two in one day was interesting for me.<\/p>\n

\"CommonCommon Sunflower hug \u2013 Nikon D500, f9, 1\/2000, ISO 640, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The Common Sunflower bloom didn’t have any insects on it that I could see but I liked this blossom because it looked like it was hugging itself. After discussing my painful Blister Beetle encounter I could use a hug.<\/p>\n

\"CommonCommon Sunflower plus a pollen covered bee \u2013 Nikon D500, f9, 1\/2000, ISO 640, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

We have many native bees species in northern Utah and across North America that I often find myself frustrated when I try to identify them. I know I am not alone though and that information is good to know.<\/p>\n

\"CommonCommon Sunflower with two bee species \u2013 Nikon D500, f8, 1\/1250, ISO 400, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This image shows two different native bee species. I believe the one of the left is a Long-horned Bee. The one on the right confounds me. It is nearly covered with pollen and I am not going to even try to guess which species it is.<\/p>\n

\"CommonCommon Sunflower with a skipper butterfly \u2013 Nikon D500, f8, 1\/1250, ISO 400, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I found two of these skipper butterflies on wild sunflower blossoms. I believe they are European Skippers which is a species that was introduced in Canada in 1910. I might be wrong about my identification. There are so many skipper butterflies to review!<\/p>\n

\"CommonCommon Sunflower with a bee and a midge \u2013 Nikon D500, f8, 1\/1250, ISO 400, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This final image shows another bee or is it a clump of pollen with a bee trapped in it? Many of the bees I photographed on the Common Sunflower blooms looked the same way. The midge is nearly hidden at the one o’clock position of the sunflower’s petals in case you were wondering.<\/p>\n

Pollinators are an important, even critical, part of this planet’s future. My advice is don’t use insecticides or unnecessary chemicals in your yard or garden to help these beneficial insects.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my wildflower, shrub and tree photos. Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my insect and spider photos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This morning I wanted to share my recent Common Sunflower photos from Bear River MBR and some of the insects that pollinate these native wildflowers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":105239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[124,1148,13157,26],"tags":[2464,6513,13164,6098,6557,7353,13169,13165,2649,13168,13161,6618,6518,5779,6028,13156,10323,13166,4094,4365,540,4302,13162,13159,13160,13158,2315,5052,105,13167,10324,4095,4307,5063,13163],"class_list":["post-105277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-common-sunflowers","category-utah","tag-bee","tag-bees","tag-blister-beetle","tag-blooming","tag-blooms","tag-blossoms","tag-cantharidin","tag-common-green-bottle-fly","tag-common-sunflower","tag-european-skipper","tag-flesh-fly","tag-flies","tag-flowering","tag-fly","tag-helianthus-annuus","tag-hugs","tag-long-horned-bee","tag-lucilia-sericata","tag-marsh","tag-midge","tag-midges","tag-native","tag-sarcophagidae","tag-skipper","tag-skipper-butterflies","tag-skippers","tag-summer-3","tag-sunflower","tag-sunflowers","tag-thymelicus-lineola","tag-tribe-eucerini","tag-wetlands","tag-wildflowers","tag-yellow-wildflowers","tag-zonitis-sayi"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/common-sunflower-blister-beetle-bee-and-flies-mia-mcpherson-3733.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-ro1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":72945,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/08\/21\/common-sunflower-great-basin-bumble-bee-and-long-horned-bee-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":105277,"position":0},"title":"Common Sunflower, Great Basin Bumble Bee And Long-horned Bee At Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 21, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"When I photographed this Common Sunflower I noticed the Great Basin Bumble Bee right away then I saw the other bee and what appears to be two midges on the upper left quadrant of the flower petals.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Common Sunflower, Great Basin Bumble Bee and Long-horned Bee, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-basin-bumble-bee-long-horned-bee-sunflower-mia-mcpherson-5563.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-basin-bumble-bee-long-horned-bee-sunflower-mia-mcpherson-5563.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-basin-bumble-bee-long-horned-bee-sunflower-mia-mcpherson-5563.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-basin-bumble-bee-long-horned-bee-sunflower-mia-mcpherson-5563.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":102522,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/05\/20\/world-bee-day-2022\/","url_meta":{"origin":105277,"position":1},"title":"World Bee Day 2022","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"May 20th is World Bee Day and I am sharing a photo of two native bees this morning. The Great Basin Bumble Bee and the Long-horned Bee. Native bees are important pollinators.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Basin Bumble Bee and Long-horned Bee on a Common Sunflower, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/great-basin-bumble-bee-long-horned-bee-sunflower-mia-mcpherson-5561.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/great-basin-bumble-bee-long-horned-bee-sunflower-mia-mcpherson-5561.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/great-basin-bumble-bee-long-horned-bee-sunflower-mia-mcpherson-5561.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/great-basin-bumble-bee-long-horned-bee-sunflower-mia-mcpherson-5561.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":94643,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/09\/09\/other-things-with-wings-broad-headed-marsh-fly-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":105277,"position":2},"title":"Other Things With Wings – Broad-headed Marsh Fly Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 9, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"These Broad-headed Marsh Fly photos are twofers. I got the hoverflies and the blooming Common Sunflowers in the same frames.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Broad-headed Marsh Fly on a Common Sunflower, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Broad-headed-Marsh-Fly-common-sunflower-hoverfly-close-up-mia-mcpherson-0315.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Broad-headed-Marsh-Fly-common-sunflower-hoverfly-close-up-mia-mcpherson-0315.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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