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Photo by Sharleen Benoit (best viewed in large)
INSECT - "BEE WITH SADDLEBAGS"
One can no more approach people without love than one can approach bees
without care. Such is the quality of bees…”
Leo Tolstoy
And I approached this bee with care...
I laughed aloud when I spied this plump yellow fellow through my camera
lens. He whizzed about the yellow bush much like a pilot would circle a
forest. He seemed to set his sights on a particularly pollen-heavy
bloom, whirred and aimed for the prize. I approached ever so slowly,
carefully, camera close to my eyes, crushing my nose slightly as I was
holding the camera much too tightly for fear that I would move slightly
and scare off my own prize. Since I had no perception of how close I
actually was to the bush and the bee, and by now, all was just a blur, I
almost bumped into him with the lens!
Prize indeed! I had never seen a bumblebee such as this - greedily
covered in golden pollen...and, wait, what is that at his sides? Why,
they look like saddlebags! In fact, they were pollen-filled sacs
attached to his hind legs. I had to research this. Here is what I found out:
"Bees either collect pollen deliberately, or do so in the process of
collecting nectar. Researchers have discovered that bees carry an
electrostatic charge. As they hover around flowers, their bodies attract
negatively charged pollen, which sticks to their often hairy bodies.
Bees that are active pollen collectors have one of a variety of
structures on their bodies designed to house the pollen. Movement of
pollen into these structures involves the bee grooming itself and
packing the grains into the space. Honeybees, bumblebees, and stingless
and orchid bees have corbicula, commonly referred to as ‘pollen baskets’
or ‘pollen sacs’. These are located on the hind legs and you can often
see large coloured balls on the ‘knees’ of foraging bees. The colour,
like the nutrient content, is dependent on the source of the pollen.
Most bees have a scopa on their hind legs, which is less a basket or sac
than a mass of hairs that keep stored pollen in place. Some bees have
this mass of hairs on their abdomen.
To get the pollen into the corbicula or scopa, the bee uses her
proboscis to moisten her legs with honey or nectar. Pollen from the body
is combed and pressed into the collector structure, staying moist and
compact thanks to the nectar."
beesalive.com/bee-pollen/what-is-bee-pollen/
FOR MORE PHOTOS OF BEES AND INSECTS, GO TO www.flickr.com/photos/125908944@N06/
Photo by Sharleen, theme by Sharleen
Designer Customised themed Cakes for Every Occasion - Cake Central Premier Cake Design Studio . New Delhi. Delhi's No.1 Online Cake Shop with Cake Delivery .
All our Cakes are unique & created specially for you , Our no two cakes are alike .
The "Garden of Hedon" vehicle, at the start of the Kinetic Sculpture Race. Federal Hill, Covington St & Key Hwy, Baltimore, MD.
Taken for "Themes & Challenges: history week".
I tried capturing this statue last week for "Statues/Monuments" week, but I had my nifty fifty with me, and I couldn't frame this statue well without standing in the street. Managed to come back to it yesterday with my 35mm, but found the bright midafternoon sun to pose a challenge. Ah well, it is what it is; two attempts is likely all I'll manage. Maybe someday if I have my camera at work with this lens on an overcast day I'll try again.
This statue constantly reminds me that Maryland was officially a Southern state during the Civil War. It shows two Southern generals, Gen. R. E. Lee and Gen. Stonewall Jackson.
As the warmer summer months approach, wouldn’t it be nice to feel a little “Frozen” once in a awhile?
#balloons, #balloondecorating, #lotparty.com #centerpiece #Frozen #snowflake
Universal Studios Singapore is a theme park located within Resorts World Sentosa on Sentosa Island, Singapore. After almost two years of construction, the park opened on 18 March 2010.
Lories and lorikeets (tribe Loriini) are small to medium-sized arboreal parrots characterized by their specialized brush-tipped tongues for feeding on nectar of various blossoms and soft fruits, preferably berries.The species form a monophyletic group within the parrot family Psittacidae. Traditionally, they were considered a separate subfamily (Loriinae) from the other subfamily (Psittacinae) based on the specialized characteristics, but recent molecular and morphological studies show that the group is positioned in the middle of various other groups. They are widely distributed throughout the Australasian region, including south-eastern Asia, Polynesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and Australia, and the majority have very brightly coloured plumage.