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A few bees are working these during every sunny period. I was actually a bit surprised to see this as I cant remember seeing honey bees on french marigolds on the patio post before. Working for nectar only - no pollen loads to be seen.
Good to know - I do like planting ornamentals that the bees can get some sweetness from hanging out with!
Tagetes patula, the French marigold is nothing to do with France, of course, the wild version is a Mexican native plant.
Julieta Venegas - Dulce Compañia
La abeja europea (Apis mellifera), también conocida como abeja doméstica o abeja melífera, es una especie de himenóptero apócrito de la familia Apidae.
The European bee-eater (Merops apiaster) is a near passerine bird in the bee-eater family Meropidae. The genus name Merops is Ancient Greek for "bee-eater", and apiaster is Latin, also meaning "bee-eater", from apis, "bee". It breeds in southern Europe and in parts of north Africa and western Asia. It is strongly migratory, wintering in tropical Africa. This species occurs as a spring overshoot north of its range, with occasional breeding in northwest Europe.
This species, like other bee-eaters, is a richly coloured, slender bird. It has brown and yellow upper parts, whilst the wings are green and the beak is black. It can reach a length of 27–29 cm (10.6–11.4 in), including the two elongated central tail feathers. Sexes are alike. Female tends to have greener rather than gold feathers on shoulders. Non-breeding plumage is much duller and with a blue-green back and no elongated central tail feathers. Juvenile resembles a non-breeding adult, but with less variation in the feather colours. Adults begin to moult in June or July and complete the process by August or September. There is a further moult into breeding plumage in winter in Africa.
This bird breeds in open country in warmer climates. As the name suggests, bee-eaters predominantly eat insects, especially bees, wasps, and hornets. They catch insects in flight, in sorties from an open perch. Before eating a bee, the European bee-eater removes the sting by repeatedly hitting the insect on a hard surface. It can eat around 250 bees a day.[citation needed]
The most important prey item in their diet is Hymenoptera, mostly Apis mellifera. A study in Spain found that these comprise 69.4% to 82% of the European bee-eaters' diet. Their impact on bee populations, however, is small. They eat less than 1% of the worker bees in areas where they live.
A study found that European bee-eaters "convert food to body weight more efficiently if they are fed a mixture of bees and dragonflies than if they eat only bees or only dragonflies.
These bee-eaters are gregarious—nesting colonially in sandy banks, preferably near river shores, usually at the beginning of May. They make a relatively long tunnel, in which they lay five to eight spherical white eggs around the beginning of June. Both male and female care for the eggs, which they brood for about three weeks. They also feed and roost communally.
During courtship, the male feeds large items to the female while eating the small ones himself. Most males are monogamous, but occasional bigamy has been encountered. Their typical call is a distinctive, mellow, liquid and burry prreee or prruup.
For more information, please visit en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_bee-eater
European honey bee
Nikon D7100 and reversed enlarging lens Nikkor 50 f/2.8
15 natural light exposures; Iso 400; f 5,6; exposure time 1/4 seconds
Park Street, Princes Hill, City of Yarra, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Hymenoptera: Apidae
on Lavandula sp.