A new bee…every day
Hardly a worthy shot on most levels – but pretty spiffy on some others. Right in your face. Its face. Fun.
Trying to get out of here to start driving to Fort Collins for the art show this weekend. Check it out if you’re in the area: Art in the Square – Civic Center Park – 225 LaPorte Ave, Fort Collins.
So the light and background here are a mess. BUT…you get two bumbles in the same shot – one in flight. On/near/in the ubiquitous (for this site, anyway) cone flower.
Shot this one in August of 2018 and ran across it the other day in my computer. Maybe over the winter I’ll take the time to go through older stuff an use the better ones on this site. So many bee shots…
In other news, today marks six straight months of daily bees! That’s something…
Shot this a few days ago. Have a piece of glass that I reclaimed from an old, broken scanner (the platten) and built a frame for it out of poplar. Been looking for a shot that matched the dimensions well for a crop and came up with this.
It’s a little unconventional as far as composition goes, but I think it works for the shot and the glass/frame. The agastache is fading now…and I’ve been checking every day for bees. Really wanted a shot on it and I think I got a few good ones. Enjoy today’s!
Also, I’ll be in Fort Collins this weekend with this piece and many others. Printed a bunch of stuff as large as 40×60 and some of it is just stunning. Check out Art in the Square if you’re in the area – Civic Center Park – 225 LaPorte Ave, Fort Collins.
Haven’t ever shot one like this before. Firsts are always good fun!
Had to wait a good while for this one to land and pose for me. Patience isn’t one of my long suits, so… But it worked out, I think.
Here’s a good look at its eye:
This might be a better illustration of what I described a couple of days ago. Pollenbutt, too.
Yesterday, on the way back from errands, I stopped at the Ogden Botanical Gardens to shoot some bees. Really like the place. While there is a skeleton full-time staff directing the enterprise, much of the work on the upkeep is done by volunteers.
The other neat thing about it is that it’s free – and open from sunup to sunset. In my travels, I often look for municipal/public gardens. Normally, there’s a cost to enter – and lately, with the covids, you have to make an appointment to enter. Not so here. If you’re in the Ogden area, a visit is worth the time. You’ll be well rewarded.
Super-close shot today on the cone flower. Notice the hair on the compound eye – a hair between each lens. Also, looks like this one had been into the Rose of Sharon before hitting the cone flower. Those larger, white chunks of pollen on her back came from that flower (or maybe a wine cup??) .
Not tons of action on this one this Summer that I’ve seen – which is surprising. It’s a little random/scattered/ununiform (that’s a terrible unword) because the larkspurs were blocking the light somewhat. So the blanket flower had to get a little trickier and taller. The larkspurs are gone mostly and I hope it kind of settles in again.
The bee is super. Shot yesterday. Great resolution on the eye, pollen on the face, and an archetypal pose for this one. Not sure why, but this particular species likes to raise its abdomen way up. Reminds me of those grand old American boats from the late 60s/early 70s that I saw in demolition derbies as a kid. When they got rear-ended, sometimes the whole back end would fold up at a 45 degree angle. Clearly digressing now, but maybe more than fitting – in that these guys often crash into each others back ends. More of that impoliteness. Too much nonsensical narrative. Here’s the bee:
Another shot of the impolite bee – as described a time or two previously. But a really neat shot if only for the colors. That orange/yellow color in the background is distant daylilies. Neat wings on this one. Amazes me that they remain effective. Also you can see the three, simple eyes (occelli) on the top of its head (in addition to the two compound eyes on either side). Plus just a titch of beeneck which always delights me.
These bees are tough to shoot because they don’t stick around and feed for very long. They seem more interested in being pugnacious, territorial, and………….”pollinating” – irrespective of gender/species. We have an unrepeatable-in-polite-company name for this particular bee around here. If you use your imagination, I’m sure you’ll get close to the local moniker.
In other news, the mostly-reliable spellcheck in my browser thinks that “agastache” really should be spelled “stagecoach”. Very nearly works for me…
Was sure I’d posted this one. Guess not. It’s neat! Shot in June 2020 near the mouth of the canyon. The meadow (and sky) was full of them. Neat time of year.
Like the way this one just glows. Shot in the late afternoon with interesting light…and then that yellow cast from the sunflower just makes the bee glow. Was really taken by the effect when it came off the card. And the sunflowers remind me of my grandmother. Neat to let my mind wander back to such wonderful places.
Been waiting for the sunflowers to fire up. They portend the back end of Summer – which is sad. But the bees are so drawn to them. Often, bumbles and longhorns and others will sleep in them overnight. Found two longhorns nestled in together on the side of one early yesterday. Shame the wind was blowing and the light was so bad. Bee hostel, I guess.
