Observations by trickykid1

I know this is of little use to anyone without verifiable media, but for my own record keeping, I wanted to record this sighting, as historically, I have only spotted crotchii once a year, so I am afraid I may not see her again to get a photo. I was working inside in the early afternoon, when I looked outside, and saw something zooming around that was so big, I thought it was a Carpenter bee, but I have yet to see any of them this year, and I caught sight of a yellow stripe. So, I ran outside, and found a Bombus crotchii queen - she dwarfed the nearby Yellow-faced bumblebees, visiting my Phacelia tanacetifolia. She was moving quickly from flower to flower though, and in the course of my trying to get close enough to her I flushed out a Desert cottontail- which is a first in my yard- and by the time I got over that, the bumblebee had left. Still, I wanted to record it, so I can track what time of year I see these each year. I've added wooleypod milkweed to my yard to try to get these bees to come to my yard more than once a year, as I know it is a favorite of theirs, but it is still tiny- nowhere near blooming yet.