They will last a while, but not forever. And as I was shooting on the lavender (lots to come of those shots), I finally saw one on the cone flowers. Superb face! One of my favorite looks at the honeybee. Enjoy!
Tag: Echinacea
First Cone Flower Post of the Season
Got a great bumble on the echinacea a couple of days ago, but my computer crashed while I was going through the folders and I’ve not been back to them. Ugh. Dumb. But…this morning, I found this little metallic green one hard at work. And because I like to post current stuff as and when I can, here’s today’s. I chose a profile shot so you can see the pantaloons or saddlebags or just plain pollenfilth. Great legs on this gal. Anyway… Love both. The bee and the flower. Summer must be in full swing!
Been a Bit Since a Cone Flower
Here’s a good one from earlier in the summer. Fun depth and great look at the bee. Especially the pollen on the legs and eyes. Note, too, that she’s not got much hair left on her thorax and her wings are starting to fray.
Sorry for posting so late at night. Think it is, in part, about not being able to shoot during the day. I’ll get over it. Missing it already. Need to get going on the birds. Maybe tomorrow morning… That clickclickclick ohwow is good for my soul. And I hope yours, a little, as I post.
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 Second of the Three-fer
A lefcutter this time. And an especially golden one, which again is rare in my experience. Love the eye on this one. The flower is looking a little ratty, but notice how it’s still showing and throwing pollen. Don’t deadhead these cone flowers until the bees start to ignore them. They’re kind of strange in that they keep opening up and sharing pollen long after the petals get nasty.
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.
The Cone Flower Again!
Seems I haven’t gotten as many shots this summer on the cone flowers. Not sure if it’s time of day, something else weird, or other plants throwing more/better pollen. There’s a magenta one I don’t think I’ve gotten a single shot on. Anyway, here’s a great leafcutter on an echinacea – and I never use that name because I can neither remember nor spell it. Cone flower. Or, because I misheard initially, corn flower. Which is another flower entirely. It’s early. I yammer. The abdomen-up bee.
Almost Two and a Cone Flower
Shot yesterday late in the day. Great, messy, pollen basket on the honeybee…and the metallic green sweat bee seems interested. It ended up bumping the honey bee, but the honey bee shrugged it off and kept working on the cone flower. Most of them are looking a little haggard now, but there are a few new blossoms, too.
I can’t seem to convince the bees that they all need to stay in the same focal plane. Fun nonetheless.
A New Kind of Bumble
I don’t recall ever having photographed this bumble before. It started out in the neighbor’s yard and I followed it across the street to our gardens. It hung around a long, long time on the cone flowers and I probably shot too many shots of it. But it’s such a neat looking one. So furry/hairy.
So…here’s one on what looks to be stacked cone flowers. Fun shot and a really great bee.
Somewhat Accidental Bumble on the Cone Flower
So I was able to shoot a little this afternoon (on the road again to Colorado (this time) on Thursday early) and was looking through the pics as they copied over. I mis-clicked on this one and opened my editing/shrinking program (rather than my viewing program) and this came up.
It looked nice…good…and not in need of a crop at all. The early evening light is a bit harsh on the near cone flower…but the other behind it…and the phlox there in the shadows…made me want to keep and post it as today’s bee. So. There ya go!
