For as neat as these flowers are, I don’t get enough shots on them. Yesterday, though, there was a bumble going to work. Didn’t get many great shots because of how the bee and the flower and the shadows were (not) working together. But this one has good detail and you can see tongue. This flower is also called the pincushion flower. Really a persistent one. And a little vulnerable to the wind…at least for photography.
Category: Bumblebee
Hunt’s Bumble on the Russian Sage
Still too cold for bees…and might not warm up again. So here’s a sweet shot from earlier this summer of a Bombus Huntii on the russian sage. The colors in this one are neat…as is the bee itself. Been a few days since I posted a bumble.
Have been kind of dreading this transition…from fresh shots to ones from the summer. That said, there are thousands and thousands to choose from just from this year alone. So it’s more about how I feel with the summer ending rather than needing content. Enjoy.
A Rare Sight: Bumble in the Asters
I see lots of natives in the asters – especially the sweat bees. The honeybees make the asters pulse with life…but I so so so seldom get a bumble in them. Here’s one from yesterday. Got a few great shots of it working on the flowers, but I’m a sucker for in-flight shots. So that’s what you get today. So many asters, too. They change and hybridize and wander through the garden. Gorgeous! Oh, and there’s a bonus honeybee that’s almost in focus.
The Third of that Three-fer
Another bumble on the cone flower. This one may be a golden…or may not. Third of three bees (and note there’s no honeybee in the three-fer, tho there well could have been) on the cone flower. This one was shot in some pretty bad light so there’s a bit of a graininess to it, but it’s a great look at her face.
The First of a Three-fer
The next three days are shots of the same flower… A really nice, pink cone flower. And they’re to illustrate the variety of the bees that collect pollen on that flower. Today’s is a pretty rare (at least in my experience) grey and black bumble. And the sunburst in the back is neat – as are the stacked cone flowers.
Just Another Bumble on a Sunflower
I think that this is a golden bumble on an unknown variety of sunflower. I really like the red-tinged petals. They seem to vary from flower to flower on this particular one – some being more red than others. Not lots to say about this shot. The light’s not great, but there’s lots to like about it (including the bee’s shadow).
Rare on the Roses – In Flight
I don’t get many shots of bees in flight. And fewer still of ones on roses for some reason. They bees are on them from time to time, but they don’t usually stay very long on a single blossom…and there are so many other blossoms that the bees are interested in that I don’t spend much time shooting on the roses. This is a nice grab, though!
Late Shot on the Sunflower
This heavy schedule of art festivals nearly every weekend is killing me. Only have just more than a full day back – then on the road again. Tried to shoot bees this evening. Almost 7:00 p.m. here. Got some strange light, but a great bee, great flower, great focus, interesting background…and that shadow. Something I love.
Sorry for being brief, scattered, and a bit off today. Try to love this shot…
And I really could use some help selecting shots for the calendar…please.
That Fantastic Gaillardia
So today I got the nicest email from a regular visitor to the site. She mentioned that she enjoyed the site, thanked me for the pictures and posts, and told me that she’d found and purchased some of the Gaillardia Mesa Peach (blanket flowers) in order to better attract (and provide for) bees – and reported her (and their) success in glowing words.
That note really made my day. So gratifying on so many levels. Thank you!
So…for today…I went out a few minutes ago and grabbed this shot. Patty, this one’s for you:
Hens & Chicks Doing Their Part
First, check out the little photobomber there below (and to the right of) the bee. Always so much going on. Lots of varieties of hens and chicks (sempervivum) in our gardens – from all over the world. They throw up bloomstalks once a year – and it’s usually the wool carder bees (and sometimes a particular leafcutter) that get excited about them – so seldom the bumbles. This variety of semp’s flowers are a little different and the bumbles seem drawn to it. Great profile shot of this one.
