A Bee-autiful world . . .

"Pollinators are what ecologists call keystone species.

You know how an arch has a keystone.

It's the one stone that keeps the two halves of the arch

together {...} If you remove the keystone, the whole arch collapses."

~ May Berenbaum, PhD, Entomologist 


It's not exactly a secret that I have a thing for insects. I can't explain it really, and I know a lot of people don't share that affinity with me. But, if I at least peak your interest I'll have done what I set out to do.

One of the many things I love about spring, besides that beautiful shade of green that starts showing up in the trees and the bushes and in the grass and the new little seedlings sprouting from the ground, is what follows right behind it . . . the honey bee. Such an incredible little aerodynamically built creature.

As the temperatures have become warmer, and the nurseries are stocking up with their favorite flowers I'm seeing more and more of them. It's been a bit difficult to photograph them though as it's been horribly windy here, but these guys are a bit tricky anyway just because they are always on the move. Double whammy! 

{Rosemary}

I have to say it was really exhausting trying to follow them in the Rosemary, never at any one flower more than a half a second.

{Stock}

And then thankfully she chose this pretty pink flower. I definitely noticed there are some flowers they go to that make them much easier to photograph than others and Stock seems to be one of them. Their flight pattern isn't nearly as erratic as with the Rosemary.

{Stock}

Have you ever paid much attention to the blob they carry on their hind legs? No? Well. . . they have special pollen baskets on their hind legs that have many hairs so that when they gather the pollen and after mixing in a little bee saliva, they can comb it through those hairs. In fact you can usually guess as to which flower they were visiting based on what color it is. {Look at the first photo again}

{Stock}

My submission to Photo Art Friday - theme Abstract - using only Bonnie's textures. I started with a tulip photo I painted with my lens so the photo was already somewhat abstract. Then I added the textures dropped egg, art smoke, no rules, aged text and vintage vellum. I have to admit, I'm enjoying abstract photo art more and more, but it does take thinking outside the box for me.

I have to say I had the best time watching the bees in the Camellias. But I'm going to have to go back to get better photos since I wasn't as pleased with how those turned out. The bee completely disappears into the middle of the flowers stamens and there were too many deep shadows to get a lot of detail. So, you know what that means .  . . there will be more bee shots and more bee trivia! ;)

Hope you have a bee[autiful] weekend!
Love, Kim
XO

Sharing with Photo Art Friday, Little Things Thursday, Thursdays Favorite Things,
Friday Photo Journal, Finding Serendipity [1440]