I recall shooting this one. Think it was sleeping. They don’t usually hold still like this. And it turned out to be a fantastic shot. Just love the eyes on these leafcutters. And this is such a compelling flower. Just gorgeous. Wish it lasted longer. From July, again.
Tag: Thistle
Of Thistleballs and Photobombing
Maybe a little more than just photobombing. This leafcutter thought he??/she?? owned the whole section of the garden and kept running into all of the bees I was trying to shoot. I wonder if that’s fun for the bees. Doesn’t seem to hurt them, so I’d imagine that it is. I know I enjoyed running into people playing football. And to be able to do it with one more axis and no concussive consequences? Maybe in another life… We all aspire, I guess.
Thistleyballs
Don’t know the name of this flower – and you can’t see so well in this photo – but these are kind of steely-blue thistle balls. One of my very, very favorite flowers, aesthetically. They start out as a spiny globe and open from the top down. They started to open and throw pollen a couple of days ago and I think I’m going to miss most of their show. But I did get a few shots. You can see, at least, very well what the blossoms look like. The pollen on her back is from this flower.
Three Filthy Bumbles on a Thistle
Shot a little yesterday, but I’m not sure how much I like the results…and started running out of time to post. So…
Today, you get three pretty dirty bumbles on a thistle – shot last August 31. I’ve not printed this one yet, but looks like a good candidate given the right crop. Think I got as many as five that day, but the focus wasn’t that great on the five. I like this one lots, though. Was a good day up in the mountains of Utah near Monte Cristo.

Two Bumbles on a Thistle

Late summer in the Rockies. There were as many as five on a single flower that day. More of these shots later.