Day 67 - Teak tree Tuesday

This morning, I suffered from a distinct lack of enthusiasm at the prospect of a morning walk. One of those days.  So I took the camera and went to the terrace, instead.  And I was richly rewarded for my laziness, let me tell you.

The Teak has been flowering for these last few days and this is the reason for the camera and the explorations.  The pollinators were busy!

Teak (Tectona grandis) is usually celebrated for its timber, but its flowers are quite fascinating too,

The Teak tree flowers in the monsoon, along with lovely large green leaves, and from afar, the whole tree has a white shimmer to it.  Tiny little flowers, but borne together as a clustery massive white cloud. The vast quantities of nectar and pollen is heaven for those tiny pollinators - the bees and the wasps.  Some years, the butterflies have also been active, but today I did not see a single one.

Maybe the butterflies will come in October.  THE TEAK TREE BUTTERFLY GARDEN - my diary from October of 2017.  I reread that post and was impressed at my butterfly idying with just binoculars.

Now, armed with camera and zoom lens, I saw the tinier fliers, the ones that zoom about, and are difficult to id (for me) except with a frozen frame and iNaturalist and Hrishu and Sagarika to help.

These are the little beauties, framed along with the flowers.  

Nomia westwoodi is an important pollinator of teak.  Imagine - tiny wild bees and the giant Teaks, the big and small, important to each other!  These little bees are solitary - no hives for them.  I think they nest in the ground - I need to check that.

Now this one is a fly - a snail killing one!  Blue Long-horned Snailkiller Sepedon sphegea - what is a snail killer doing on the teak tree?! It is usually in marshy wet habitats.

Turns out that it has earned its name due to the habit of the larvae to prey on snails, while the adults are benign flower feeders - they feed on nectar, pollen, and honeydew as energy sources and what better source than a teak tree in monsoon bloom.  This one above - it wasn't really feeding - just resting - maybe it had finished sipping from the flower.

I loved this picture - a shower of white - with that Giant Honey Bee like a little golden accent.

A Carpenter bee - which I usually see on Milkweed - was also present.  Yellow-headed Carpenter Xylocopa ruficornis.  These bees are not fussy feeders, any nectar and any pollen will do, thank you.  So you see them on very many flowering plants, trees 

I love the buzz they make as they go by - have you heard them?  But they really are not aggressive - the female can sting if provoked, and the male can't even do that.  They are also solitary, and so no hive to defend, etc.

And finally - the Bembix wasp!! Isn't it pretty?

My neighbour's teak tree - a real nectar cafe!  Bembix adults are flower visitors, drinking nectar for their own energy needs.  Most times they are busy digging holes in the sandy soil.  Female adults will hunt -  flies and other insects, to provision their brood.  Hunting is tiring business - the "petrol" is the nectar.

There were other wasps and flies too and the entire set is here on iNaturalist.

And then, in the evening, there was a predator!  Remember my post from a week ago?  

The Slender Skimmer (Orthetrum sabina) - one of the most common and adaptable dragonflies in India, and yes — its presence near teak flowers was almost certainly linked to predation opportunities.

The flowering teak was clearly an insect magnet. The dragonfly didn't care about the nectar, I was sure, but it was looking for its meal probably!  So there it was, waiting.  I watched it for a while, but it seemed content - and then suddenly it zoomed away, probably thunk, but I lost sight of it.

And now, it is time for my dinner which will come from the fridge, rather far-removed from the teak tree food web.  So, more tomorrow.