A new bee…every day
This one might be more about the mess than the bee. You can kind of see her amidst the pollen thar in that poppy mallow. Also interesting exercise in depth of focus. Don’t get many bees in these – and the light is often weird. But it’s fun when I do.
The shape this bee makes is fun. Always has her back end up. Nice face today, and nice shape of the bee. The flower’s a little wrecked, but she doesn’t notice or care.
See yesterday’s post. From the same week in August 2019. But this time photobombing a bumble on a liatris. Wonder if it’s the same leafcutter???
The background is obnoxious. But it is a fun followup to yesterday.
Here’s a really fun one from August of 2019. The little one on the sunflower is a sweat bee. And the one photobombing (and so nicely in focus, for once) is, I think, a leafcutter of some sort. Great eye. Fun shot. Happy Friday. And enjoy!
Love this little bee. And the blanket flower, too. This one’s straight out of the camera from July 2019. Great detail. Enjoy!
Neat one in flight heading toward the agastache. This little one is pretty territorial and will often knock other bees from blossoms. They’re usually successful, but I’ve seen them bounce offa bumbles and just get ignored. Especially when the bumbles are nestled in on a sunflower. But they really are rude little bees.
And although, with its markings, it might look kind of wasp-ey, you can tell that it’s a bee by looking at the back leg. There are hairs on it – the pollen basket.
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!
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.
I don’t get many bees on daylilies. And when I do, it’s very seldom a native. This is a cute shot of a sweat bee. Pollen all over the place and you get a really good look at her left mandible.
I miss the bees outside and it’s only November.
