The California Lilacs are Blooming in Hinge Park in Vancouver's Olympic Village

It was a pleasure to take mom and dad, who are visiting from Alberta, to Olympic Village. It is thirty years since they'd been here at Expo '86.  We enjoyed watching the bees forage in the California lilacs and other fantastic pollinator hedges at the park before enjoying a pub lunch in the Salt Building.

This lilac hedge with the spirea is a beautiful combination.

 Spring Andrena mining bees love ninebark.

Twinberries and Indian plum are already fruiting.

Beautiful design.

Then we went beaver spotting, but didn't catch a glimpse of the elusive mammals.

We did hear and see a red-winged blackbird, which is nostalgic for me from my childhood in Saskatchewan. And Hinge Park was raucous with flickers and starlings. Then we met this giant "pub crawler".

 It's also the time when the California poppies start blooming to feed the bees.

Mom and I went shopping on Granville Island.

The Canada geese went without birth control this year--so many sons of geese.

Micro greens at PICA.

And finally, to celebrate my husband's birthday, we dined al fresco.

Spot prawn season has just opened.

And rhubarb season is well on its way.

Meanwhile, a bird's thwarted attempt to eat this large flying ant left it for some tiny ants to devour. Everybody's gotta eat!

First Leafcutter Bee of the Season in Vancouver: California Lilacs Bloom

A California lilac shrub stopped me in my tracks at the busy intersection of W4th and MacDonald.The flowers were covered with bees of all stripes scrambling to collect pollen. I watched as their pollen baskets filled and their jodhpurs grew fat with lemony pollen.

There were bumblebees, andrena mining bees, and lots of these solitary bees with striped butts.

Back home in our garden I also spotted the first leafcutter of the season, looking fluffy and freshly hatched. I am amazed at how having three lupins in my back yard has attracted a variety of native bees.

The wool carder bees have also set up shop at the lupins where the males patrol the flowers and mate with the females. I witnessed a male wool carder bee knock a bumblebee queen right out of the flower with a full body check. She didn't even see it coming. Cheeky!

 I also observed a honeybee try her darndest to access lupin pollen or nectar, but she gave up after two valiant attempts. These small bees are sneaking in and gathering pollen, flying under the radar of the possessive wool carder males.

As the blue orchard bees are wrapping it up, the smaller summer mason bees are getting busy. Even this little one can trip the keels of the lupins to daintily  sip the nectar.

I'm also pleased to announce my first sighting of a cuckoo be in the forget-me-nots our back yard. My friend Jasna tells me the rim around the nectar turns from yellow to white once the flower has been pollinated. Cool!