The document discusses various birds and insects that are important pollinators in a backyard, including hummingbirds, sphinx moths, swallowtail butterflies, bumblebees, drone flies, and honey bees. It notes that hummingbirds arrive in March and leave in August, Anna's hummingbirds stay year-round. It provides details on the nesting and feeding behaviors of various species. The document also expresses concern about declining pollinator populations due to pesticides and calls out neonicotinoids and their effects on bees.

1. THE BIRDS AND THE BEES
My back yard

2. BIGGEST AND BIGHTESS
Rufous hummingbird
Arrive mid march lower mainland
Gone early august
Over winter California, Baja
Mexico ,one hatch usually two
chicks per clutch, nest is the size
of a golf ball
any flower that will give Nectar
including the every giving feeder
Never use red colouring
this is deadly
4 to 1 summer mix
3 to 1 winter mix
A true snow bird

3. Which brings us too
 Anna's humming bird
 Never leaves here year
round
 Population stable mainly
due to feeders
 You will know you have a
,male near be due to high
pitched note from his tail
feather during a courting
dive
 Can have as many as four
clutches though the year
 Survives the winter night
by lower the thermostat
placing the bird in a
torpor to morning
 Two feeder all winter long
as one freezes its replaced

4. Of the same size
 sphinx or hawk moth
 both pollinate flowers and sip
nectar, and both can fly
forwards, backwards and hover
in place.
 The honeysuckle vine,
hawthorns, and shrubs in the
viburnum family are preferred
plants, so provide these host
plants for the caterpillars if you
want to see the adults..
 Rather than spinning a cocoon
to go through metamorphosis,
they dig into the soil and blend
in with the fallen leaves
 Some pupae spend the winter
there, transforming into flying
adults the following spring.
 Most sphinx moths are out at
night to feed,

5. Staying with big
 Two-tailed Western Tiger
Swallowtail butterfly
 Big, bright, loves buddleia
 Butterflies emerge from
winter chrysalides between
February and May, the date
depending on the
temperature
 rarely seen at rest always
on the move
 The adult females lay up to
a hundred eggs in total.
 The eggs are deep green,
shiny and spherical. They
are laid singly, on the
undersides of leaves

6. Green Grass-Dart Skipper Butterfly
 This little guy I never see
any more
 Herbicides and pesticide
have taken there toll
 Adults feed on nectar or
are scavengers on decaying
matter and wet mud.
Larvae feed on a variety of
plants. Unlike most
butterflies, skippers
pupate in a cocoon made
of leaves attached together
with silk. The adults have a
rapid and powerful flight.

7. Humble bumble bee
 over 250 known species
 pollen grains are wedged into
the hairs for transport).
 Like their relatives the honey
bees, bumblebees feed on nectar
and gather pollen to feed their
young.
 Another obvious (but not
unique) characteristic is the soft
nature of the hair , called pile,
that covers their entire body,
making them appear and feel
fuzzy
 While foraging, bumblebees can
reach ground speeds of up to 15
metres per second (54 km/h)

8. The drone-fly,
 I picked a fly as probably
among the first pollinators of
early flowering plants.
 Diptera have been
documented to be primary
pollinators for many plant
species, both wild and
cultivated.
 under conditions of reduced
bee activity, flies are often the
main pollinators
 Pollinators have a keystone
function in ecosystems.
Without pollination many
wild plants could not
reproduce and survive.
Animals, too, are indirectly
dependent on pollination
services, as they feed on fruit
or plants that would not exist
without pollinators.

9. Mason bee
 Who has mason bees
 Last year my wife opened
the refrigerator to discover
the Mason bees were
starting to hatch…this year
we were determined to
hang the nests before that .
 Friendly Blue Mason Bees
are Perfect Pollinators
 While the mason bee will
pollinate nearly anything,
they are especially
attracted to the stone fruits
such as plums, cherries,
and peaches. It would
seem that they specialize
in these plants, but like
apple tree blossoms

10. The boss
 An average sized colony in
the summer will contain over
35,000-40,000 bees and in the
winter about 5000 bees
 Honey Bees are generally
considered the highest form
of insect life with the most
sophisticated colonies and
complex behaviors, even
among other bee types.
 But there are in trouble
colonies are collapsing
everywhere the varroa mite is
devastating population across
Canada and states
 Untreated the mites will wipe
out a colony in a year
 Two million flowers must be
tapped to make just one
pound of honey (no wonder
they need to be so efficient)

11. Pesticides

12. Bayer has got a big headache
 Right now, billions of bees are dying. Already, there are
nowhere near enough honeybees in Europe to pollinate the
crops, and in California -- the biggest food producer in the
US -- beekeepers are losing 40% of their bees each year.

We're in the middle of an environmental holocaust
that threatens all of us, because without pollination by
bees, most plants and ⅓ of our food supply are gone.

Scientists are sounding the alarm about pesticides that are
toxic to bees, and say we’re using way, way more pesticides
on our crops than we need. But as with oil companies and
climate change, big drug companies that sell pesticides are
fighting back with corporate-funded junk science that
questions the evidence, and gives politicians an excuse to
delay

13. Neonicotinoid

14. Thank you