A new bee…every day
I think the title says it all. This one is fading now. I like the shadow on the right side of it. Probably doesn’t do much for the composition, but I think it is a neat look. Wish this one started earlier and ended later. Great wings today.
Well, I didn’t know until today that the common name of this plant is Bluebeard. Much easier to remember than Caryopteris.
Great plant for late summer pollinators. Always seems to be teeming with life – and bees. It’s a tough one to shoot because of the way it grows. Seems a little Dr. Seuss-ian. Notice how, in this picture, at least, there’s a huge explosion of flowers and buds at the top of the stalk. There are others underneath it – and they tend to throw shadows all over themselves – the tops working like parasols.
Anyway – this is a neat shot and posture of the Bombus huntii. Beadhead bee. Look at the detail in the wing – and the pollen on the back. Printed this one on metallic paper and it’s a winner.
Great pollen on the eye. Tongue is obscured by the flower, though. This one is in full bloom and really attracts bees of all kinds. Yesterday I saw two natives, a bunch of honeybees, and three different kinds of bumbles on this liatris. Gorgeous. And that’s a sunflower in the background above the bumble. Little pollen grains on its eye…
The liatris again. Really wonderful plant for late-summer pollinators. In this case, a Bombus huntii – or, as I’ve named it – the bed-head bee. All of the other bees look so well-groomed. But this one looks just unkempt. Rolled out of bed and meeting the world. I like the look. This bee is a favorite of mine – might be that I can relate.
Back to the well. The blanket flower. What a champ for pollinators. This leafcutter (the one in flight) was really giving the bumble a hard time. Kept crashing into it, trying to knock it off the flower. Territorial little thing. The bumble was unmoved, though.
Traveling some to art fairs and shows in September. Check the sidebar (on a big browser – have to scroll to the bottom on a phone) for dates and places and links – or the Festivals and Events page. Some of the stuff that I’ve printed is stunning – especially the large sizes. And if you introduce yourself in person, I might be inclined to be flexible on prices. Plus it would be neat to meet people who frequent this site.
Enjoy these little ones today. I was pleased with how this shot turned out.
(Parenthetically, we broke the 200-day mark a bit more than two weeks ago. That’s a lot of bees!)
Just returned from Denver (Cherry Creek Smash Art Festival) yesterday. Fun, successful trip with some great response to the art. So…I didn’t make any time to shoot yesterday. Here’s one from last week. Nice shot of a bumble’s face on the oregano. You can clearly see the three eyes on the top of the head. Really like the greens with the pinks with the yellow/gold intrusion.
Cooling off – 51 degrees this morning and that’s a welcome relief. Looks like 90s for a while yet, but the asters are starting. Brace yourself!
…keeps them coming back! Here’s a brown-belted bumble on it. Pollen all over him (I think it’s a drone) and a rare shot of bumbleneck. Those necks fascinate me. Surely a product of millions of years of selection, but they look so strange…and the color – every one I’ve seen is white-ish. And so small for the sizes of the head and abdomen it seems. So interesting to me.
Didn’t shoot on Wednesday at all for some reason. The day got away from me. So here’s one from Tuesday on the ornamental oregano. Honeybee and a brown-belted bumble. The size difference is amazing. Rare to get focus on both bees. I’ve got a number of shots that have multiple bees – four or five, even – but the focus just doesn’t work. Point is, though, that they just swarm this one. It’s a neat little bush-like thing that seems to tolerate intermittent watering. Get one if you love the pollinators.
Some geraniums in the background. It’s on a blanket flower. They’re everywhere right now. Seems last August around this time they were thick, too. They seem impervious to getting knocked around by the leafcutters. Kind of fun to see the smacking through the lens. Great tongue on this one and pollen all over. I think it’s a drone.
Sort of. If you count the jagged ambush bug as an incidental pollinator. And that’s probably acceptable.
I have a few observations:
It’s so hazy because of the fires here in the West that for most of the day I cannot even see my shadow.
’tis the season for brown-belted bumble drones. They’re everywhere
It’s very, very hot. And dry. Been weeks since any precipitation.
The asters are starting – watch out.
