Monday, September 1, 2014

Bees and Weeds

Wild onions produce tiny, attractive flowers. I had seen a bumble bee or two visiting them this hot, humid Labor Day, and got out my macro lens. Naturally, the bees disappeared when I had the camera in hand, so I stayed in the shade and focused on this blooming onion.


A bee showed up nearby on some cultivated flowers in the sun, so I headed there too.


Eventually, two of the Bumbles returned to the patch of onions and other weeds.




And finally, this may also be classified as a weed, but I like it.


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5 comments:

  1. http://theoatmeal.com/comics/bees_vs_hornets

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    1. Fortunately for me, none of the bees I approached were at all aggressive. As for Japanese hornets, I don't have the ability to raise my body temp to 47ÂșC, nor am I part of a swarm of photographers who could form a ball like those bees! It is quite an amazing strategy!

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  2. Yes, a bee keeper I know said this: "Yep! All true. There is even a PBS film (probably on the internet in youtube or somewhere by now) showing the “balling” of a hornet. But if there are more than just a single handful of them even a big strong hive can be destroyed. The key is having a honey bee attach itself to the hornet and live long enough for the alarm/attack pheromone to summon enough other bees to make the ball effective."

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    1. Here's a National Geographic podcast that explains and shows the whole fascinating sequence: http://youtu.be/K6m40W1s0Wc

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