A new bee…every day
This one’s from June of 2020. Just landing, it looks like, from looking at the series. Seems to have no wings, but that’s a trick of the depth. The left wing is kind of a translucent blur there in the middle-top of the thorax. Pretty bee.
Here’s a neat Hunt’s Bumblebee on the lavender (in June). One of my favorite bumbles because it looks just so unkempt. That interesting background is hens and chicks. Can’t wait for summer again. Frost everywhere this morning. No snow yet. Dormant. I do understand cycles, but I do prefer growth to resting.
Two days in a row on the blanket flower – illustrating its range attracting pollinators. Beautiful bumble with some great detail!
These are some of my favorite bees. Also the mason bees that are metallic-looking. And, of course, the blanket flower always delivers. From early June here. The Blanket flowers start blooming pretty early in the season and go until a hard frost. The blossoms last for days and days and attract all kinds of pollinators from bumbles to natives to honeybees – even butterflies.
In other news, yesterday marked the 300th day of “bee of the day”. That’s a lot of bees. Expect some fun on the first of February to mark the anniversary.
In other other news, the traffic here is kind of slow. Please share it around to those whom you think might enjoy. And enjoy today’s bee!
Great native on a sunflower today. Longhorn bee. That eye just gets me. And that left antenna (vs the right) really shows how razor-fine the plane of focus is on these shots (as if you need to be reminded).
Diversion here – skip this noise if you’d like:
I’m not a fan of holidays, really. This is because I think that setting aside a single day for gratitude or generosity or celebrating a person or remembering those who have passed (those just as examples – there are many more) really isn’t enough. All of those things are good things. And there’s probably nothing wrong with an annual fixed focus on those things.
I think what I’m trying to say is not so much a dig on the single-day, hard focus, but rather that I’d hope that these things would be habits in us – have become (or are becoming) innate. That we’d not need a day to honor our mothers, for example, but that would be part of who we are and how we behave – every day.
Be grateful every day and give thanks. Call your mom on a random Thursday if she’s still around. Give a gift randomly just because you’re generous – and you know it’s something the recipient will never acquire for himself. Send a “just because” card in addition to the annual birthday card.
That was kind of a loose rant. Maybe I’m saying that the reasons for the holidays we celebrate are generally good reasons. And I’d hope that these reasons are something that we can all internalize and integrate and reflect every day. And I’m looking at myself first.
Happy Thanksgiving all!
I really like their faces. They still confuse me a little because they look so different from different angles. Neat one today, though. Good look at her face and wings. Tongue, too.
2020 has been a hell of a year. If you do anything at all this weekend, please be kind to those in your orbit. Remain mindful of others’ humanity as well as your own. Not a lot we can do about a lot of things, but we can control how we behave – how we treat people.
This geranium’s blossoms are just a bit bigger than a U.S. quarter dollar coin. I think that’s about 24cm to the rest of the world. Two pics today. First of the entire blossom with the bee – for scale. Second is a tighter crop so that you can see the detail on the bee. Tiny, gorgeous little critter – with bonus beeneck. The sweat bees delight me.
Some great bees, and some great other stuff, too. Worth a look. Some neat raptors there. Best of the Northwest Art Show and Holiday Market. Get in touch with me for other options: steve@bees.photo.
On the ever-reliable cone flower. Normally, I crop the photos some to give a good look at the bee – or for the sake of composition. Not this one. I must have been really close on this one. From late July. I love the eye on this one. So different from the honeybees.
This one is from July 2020. Great look at the eye on this one. And the pollen all over her face delights me. You also get a great look at one of the three eyes on the top of her head.
