My lavender flowers are still a few days from being open enough for the bees to visit, so this post is mainly about my purple daisies and some more of the bulbine flowers that the bumblebees are very much enjoying. When the sun shines on my garden the light is perfect for photography. Lately I have been enjoying photographing bumblebees. You only get to see them when the sun is out, if a cloud goes over the bumblebees disappear.
I am constantly amazed at how much pollen these little guys can carry around while they are flying. Imagine just how much faster their little wings have to go to carry the extra weight. In my last post I commented on the different colours of the pollen collected. The above image shows a more bronze like bundle of pollen from the purple daisy.
I consulted with a bee keeper about whether they will mix the different pollens and was told that with bees, they will only collect from one type of flower for each flight. So bees actually do not mix the different pollens. Clever really! I also found this site today that has some great bumblebee information. I will have to read the site before going back to photographing bumblebees.
Something else that I noticed was that the bumblebees often lose a lot of the pollen they have collected when they move from flower to flower. They will stop and move the pollen into the bundles on their legs but before they do that, precious pollen can fall off their bodies when they are in flight.
I love how photography gives me a different view of the bumblebees. They are not just a flying insect in the garden, they have real character and purpose. My garden is better for their being a part of it and I feel my photography is improving with each attempt to photograph them.
The image above is one I have been trying to achieve for some time now. Getting the bumblebee to fly straight towards me has been such a challenge. I use my large lens when photographing bumblebees, however at full extension it gives me a macro like view.
I hope you are enjoying being in my garden with me while I am photographing bumblebees. Send me a message and let me know. Also if you have any questions for me, or can identify my purple daisy, again, drop me a message here.
