Very different look at the same (species of) bee as yesterday. Great face. And that mustache. Looks like a baleen, almost. One of my favorite bees. Don’t know if I like the flowers or not. They bloom early in the day and are often closed up by the time I get to shooting. And they get ratty-looking pretty quickly. But they smell good in the morning. And really broadcast the scent.
Category: Native
Great Look at a Leafcutter on the Blanket Flower
Just another solid shot. Such a good look at that fuzzy little critter. And if you don’t know what I think of blanket flowers, you’ve not been paying attention. Such fun detail all around in this pic. Also – get some of these flowers for your gardens. I’ll bet you’ll love them, too.
Might be a Digger Beebelly
This isn’t particularly compelling or arty. But she’s got pollen all over her belly. And I like pollen. And I like beebellies. And penstemmons for that matter. So this one made the cut for today. It’s kinda neat in its own way. And something you don’t ordinarily see.
Another on the Partridge Feather
Teeny, teeny sweat bee on the partridge feather. It’s a neat plant itself. Low to the ground, but it does something with its leaves or “feathers” that makes it look like there is dew or crystals on it throughout the day. Neat ground cover that isn’t very thirsty. Not my favorite because it only blooms once and I don’t see many bees on it. But that’s not the only criterion for putting it in the garden.
Kind of a Riot in the Chocolate Daisies
This one’s just a mess. But what a glorious mess. Focus all over the place. Two metallic green sweat bees. Bokeh going sideways. Again, not great art, but great nature. And that’s lots of the point of this site.
Tiny Sweat Bee on a Penstemmon
Most of the time when I shoot on penstemmons, I get bumblebeebutt. But (ha!) here’s a fun shot of a little black sweat bee (I’m really not sure about that at all, btw…I’m really bad at IDs) and some neat depth on the penstemmon blossoms.
Note the three eyes on the top of her head (occeli) as well as her little toes hanging onto the flower. Fun shot and great bee.
Little Sweat Bee in the Partridge Feather
This plant kind of bugs me. There are bees on it sometimes, but not all that often. Usually when I see movement on it, I get excited and hopeful – only to find a hoverfly or two. Not that there’s anything wrong with those critters (well, there is – these particular ones eat the daffodil bulbs), but I prefer to shoot bees.
But now and then, I’ll get a good shot on it. Good looking sweat bee.
Convention on the Sunflower
Lots going on here. Two Longhorns, two sweat bees, and lots of color in the petals. Shot toward the end of July. I love the sunflowers. They’re all bee-created hybrids and it’s fun to see where in the yard they’ll show up…and how they vary from year to year. Fantastic!
Metallic Green on a Sunflower
Pre-sunrise (before it crested the mountain) shot of a metallic green sweat bee getting ready to leave a sunflower. Love their eyes. And the green with the neat reds and yellows of the sunflower. So amazing and complex. And this one was just covered with pollen, too – though you cannot see it in this particular shot.
Territorial Leafcutter
I used to post the pics first and then the narrative. I think I’ll go back to that. Don’t know why I changed it. So…narrative under the pic on this one.
The bumble was minding her own business there on the cone flower. That blurry leafcutter decided to knock her off. Didn’t even move her. When they hit each other or honeybees, normally the one who got hit flies off. Not the case with the big bumbles. They just seem to shrug it off and keep going. Kind of a messy shot, but it’s pretty dynamic. Wish it were about 1/10th of a second later, though. Just before impact.