A Rubber Rabbitbrush Bee Safari
Take a drive through the arid lands of western North America any autumn day and you’ll find the roadsides dotted in gold. It‘s rubber rabbitbrush season, a ubiquitous shrub with thousands of yellow flowers, and a late season treasure for pollinators. If you stop the car and get out for a close look, you’re likely to discover a small fortune of bees. That is exactly what I did one sunny September day as I drove a few of the lonely two-lanes of Washington State’s Columbia Pla