Occasionally, when it is a nice day out, it is too much to be good and stay in…Even when I am fighting the good fight, writing grant proposals and revising manuscripts, sometimes the lure of the outdoors becomes irresistible. This morning was one of those times. Just before lunch, I grabbed my camera and headed out to shoot for 40 minutes in the SFU Community Garden.  I am glad I did, because it was the most productive 40 minutes shooting in a long while!

I was extremely excited to see these beautiful halictids out.  I am pretty sure this is Agapostemon but it is hard to tell with the tibia so loaded with pollen!

I thought there might be a spider associated with this dead Cabbage White, but the only thing feeding was this fly. Pretty cool anyhow!

This Philodromid gives a good lesson in persistence and struggling through adversity.

I really can’t get enough of these Halictids. They are just like living jewels!

Takeoff!

The crème de la crème of the outing was this beautiful Laphria with a honeybee. I only had a short time with this beauty, as the strong wind caused it to fly far when I startled it.

So overall, my little adventure produced some decent shots! To top it off, when I returned to the lab I got an email informing me that a paper I am coauthor on had been accepted for publication in the Canadian Entomologist. Productive slacking! Is there anything better?