It's that time of year to look at blooming rabbitbrush and upload your photos. More than 3,000 observations from 600 naturalists have contributed and there's still more biodiversity to document. Cheers!

Well done, everyone. 2,700 observations are now part of this project and I see a huge range of arthropod observations showing the ecological importance of rabbitbrush.

2,000 observations
300 species
and 500 participants

Good work, everyone!

The rabbitbrush is flowering again in the Albuquerque area, and I was able to get out to go nature hunting for the first time in several weeks. The most common species I saw on rabbitbrush were Painted Lady and Chauliognathus lewisi, with the latter being quite abundant and gregarious on certain individual plants. Lots of similar observations from NM are being added to the project, which is great to see. A big thanks to @egordon88 for his work in adding lots of observations to this project!

First, thanks to Joshua for starting this project. I hope we will get lots of participation this year.

I think this is a great plant to appreciate for many reasons. Widespread, prolific bloomer, and smells nice (opinions vary).

Some animal highlights are ...

Diptera: On gallformers.org, 24 species are listed for Ericameria and 7 for Chrysothamnus. Almost any Syrphid fly will visit for nectar.

Lepidoptera: Chamisa is one of the best places to hunt for Noctuidae on summer and fall evenings. The specialist moth, Schinia unimacula, is found all over the western US (http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=11188).

Hymenoptera: I have seen a variety of wasps hunting and nectaring, especially Braconids like Lytopylus. Bees adore it, including 93 pollen specialist species (https://jarrodfowler.com/pollen_specialist.html) and potentially hundreds of generalists and other Asteraceae specialists.

Coleoptera: Beetles love flowers too, especially Checkered Melon beetles and Soldier beetles.