Swamp milkweed pollinators observation 2026-07-17

I was worried that with all of the smoke we’ve been dealing with from the wildfires, that I wouldn’t see any pollinators or that they would be ‘sick’ from the bad air but thankfully everyone I saw to day seemed to be doing okay, I hope they all are. The milkweed beetles were quite active, Normally they just seem to hang out on the stems be the three I saw today were all over the flowers and flitting from flower head to flower head. Also there was a big black flying bug, which I think is some kind of wasp, which I haven’t seen on these flower previously.