Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: bumble bee

(+6 insets!) Serenity Amidst Virus Insanity…Aren't We Lucky! The news continues to boggle our minds but we are keeping our fingers crossed that we're able to camp as we wish! This is our third week out now and we're enjoying every precious moment! I've changed the way I do my posts…now I am just writing whatever and whenever I like, and when it's time to post a picture, I'll grab a topic I wrote and add it to my post! This makes my uploads less of a time-intensive task and more in keeping with relaxing and not being too serious about everything. It's nice! So, here you go! My Morning Walk When I'm at home, I like to start my morning (after my shower, coffee, cider drink + vitamins, of course) with a 30+ minute tromp up and down our driveway. The grade is steep enough to promise good exercise and it's wonderful to listen to the birds and perhaps get the chance to watch our resident turkeys and deer wandering by. When we're out camping though, I get the marvelous opportunity to go on a walk around the entire campground! Every one is different in appearance, size and number of areas to visit. It's such a great way to begin the day! Walking around each loop, I get to see everyone's RV (recreational vehicle) and see how they set up their individual campsite. There are plenty of traditional tent campers too and every single arrangement is interesting and fun to look at as I stroll by. Another nice thing about visiting the whole campground is the added sense of community I get. As I make my way around, I say good morning to everyone I pass by or to whomever notices me. The cheerful exchange is so bright and happy--what's better than exchanging big smiles with others in this natural place?! Steve and I don't have kids so, it's very interesting to see the variety of families and how they experience a vacation away from home. Sitting at picnic tables and eating meals, parents chat and cook, clean and relax. Kids play with their dogs, ride bikes around the loops and play games together. The situations are endless and such fun to take a peek at. It is so enjoyable to have these small glimpses into family life out on the road! A couple of days ago I saw such a sweet exchange. A man was couched down in front of his beautiful liver-and-white spotted Springer Spaniel. The dog, who appeared to be glowing with health and happiness, was laying on its chest with feet out in front. The man gently hand-fed kibble from a gleaming metal bowl with such a tender look on his face, his dog taking each mouthful with great satisfaction. Unnoticed, I stood and watched with a beaming smile on my face, my hands clasped behind my back. I didn't want to disturb their dear story so after about 30 seconds I walked on, sighing happily that I got to see this love shared between two best friends. Today's Pictures With time to relax, I'm doing macro photography like crazy and getting so many satisfying images. I've gotten some insect pictures too, including today's bumble bee and hoverfly pictures! I'm also including a pair of pictures that show a mama spider with her babies clinging to the hairs on her back! What a marvelous surprise that was! I'd gone on a walk down to the beach at Humbug Mountain State Park when I noticed a spider racing across the sand. I couldn't resist taking pictures when it stopped nearby, but I had no idea how special these photos would be. When I transferred my pictures over and took a closer look, I almost fell over! Why, she had babies all over her back, all clinging to her hairs like little troopers! Aren't they cute?! I must admit my great luck with these rare sights…my last inset is a picture I took last year when we were camping at Diamond Lake. I found a mama spider carrying her egg sac with her as she ran along! Thank You All!! You've all been so wonderful with your lavish comments, stars, and warm messages…talk about making a person feel great! *hugs all around* Here's hoping everyone is doing well and having a nice time too! Explored on 7/16/20; highest placement #2.

Here's another image I found in my Ashland Garden Tour folder! I was trying to get the entire bee in focus, but what I got instead was a happy accident!

Visiting a garden for photography means more than taking pictures of flowers. There are plants, leaves, and interesting landscaping elements too. But the biggest reward might be capturing an insect in flight! I was taking a picture of the Coral Bell flowers when a bumble bee zoomed in for some nectar. I managed to get this shot, and even though the focus isn't razor-sharp, I felt it was such a great angle that I thought it was worth processing and sharing with all of you! :)

This is one of those lucky pictures where you see the opportunity, aim, take a picture, and the second you do, the critter disappears like it was never there in the first place! :D I didn't actually think it would come out. What a surprise to look at this on my computer and find this bee in mid-air, in crisp focus! WOW! And then I laughed out-loud because the poppy head seems to be very alarmed at the bee! So funny! :D Thanks to Art (Leapfrog) for helping me to identify this as a California Carpenter Bee! Sure looks like a bumblebee to me but it's not surprising that I'm confused: did you know there are over 20,000 bees in the world?!! Carpenter bees aren't even close relatives of bumblebees, though they do share the same family. There are over 500 species of carpenter bee compared to 250 species of bumblebee. From Wiki: These bees get their name from the fact that nearly all species build their nests in burrows in dead wood, bamboo, or structural timbers (except those in the subgenus Proxylocopa, which nest in the ground). If you would like more information about Carpenter bees, Wikipedia has a nice source here: Wikipedia: Carpenter Bee

Teasel flowers really attract bees, and I had a great time taking pictures of them today. I saw this guy hanging out on a teasel head and it was sticking its tongue out to reach something clearly out of reach below. Maybe it was doing tongue stretching exercises, I don't know! :D But I knew I'd have to feature this bee for one of my Bokeh Thursday pictures!! :D

How lucky is this shot! Though the one in flight isn't crystal clear, I was elated that I got this neat image!! This image was taken during my trip to San Francisco during September 12-15, 2011.

This image was taken during our MeetUp hike to the base of Pilot Rock

I was able to get close enough to show the prisms in this bee's eyes! I'm sure it was extremely unimpressed with my macro flash! I took only a few pictures and then left them in peace! Sorry Bumbles!!

Here is a close-up of one of the bees inside its beautiful accommodations! It was lightly raining but not so hard that it was a danger to my camera! I couldn't ask for prettier conditions to take a picture of this darling bee! :)

Every day I go out to appreciate the beautiful crocus that are in full bloom in our front yard, and naturally I cannot help but take pictures. Yesterday afternoon I saw something on one of the flowers as I approached and whispered to myself, "Oh! Could that be a bee?! I moved over very slowly and sure enough, there was a bumble bee on one of the flowers! But wait!! There were TWO! I couldn't believe it!! And the story gets better!! I was a little sad because I would have liked to make the bees my pick of the day but I'd already chosen the hawk from earlier. No matter, they would make lovely alternate shots, right? Well, last night when I let the dogs out, I had a suspicion so I checked the flowers. I wondered about them yesterday afternoon because they'd been moving very sluggishly in the rapidly cooling temperature. As it turned out, they were too cold to fly away and decided to sleep inside the flowers overnight!! Absolutely amazing! And best of all, I popped outside this drizzly morning, hoping it was still too cold for them to fly, and what do you know...the cutie pies were crawling around in and out of the flowers and I got my pick of the day!!! YAYYY!!!!! I feel so incredibly lucky and fortunate to get these pictures!! (By the way, I'll have a couple of others to share of them in a week or two--I thought it would be better to spread them out.) Jacques-Yves Cousteau, commonly known in English as Jacques Cousteau; 11 June 1910 – 25 June 1997) was a French naval officer, explorer, conservationist, filmmaker, innovator, scientist, photographer, author and researcher who studied the sea and all forms of life in water. He co-developed the Aqua-Lung, pioneered marine conservation and was a member of the Académie française. Wikipedia: Jacques Cousteau Explored on Flickr on February 28, 2013. Highest position: #106.

I don't know about you, but I could hardly believe my eyes when I found these darling bees sleeping in the crocus blossoms last night! This is something an illustrator draws for a children's book. You don't actually see this for real! Well, here we are!! Now, repeat after me: "AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!" :D :D :D

The other day I took some pictures of our lovely bearded irises and saw something huge fly by. How nice to be in the right place at the right time! I got several pictures of this bee on the iris, but this is my favorite, taken just as he lifted off for his next assignment! :D

Today I went out on our back deck where we have a pink rose bush growing next to and through our deck! It rained last night and I meant to get droplet pictures but when I went out there, I was met by first a slow-moving honey bee and then a bumble bee! Can you believe it? Two flying bee pictures in one day!! Hooray! Mary Kay Ash (May 12, 1918 – November 22, 2001) was an American businesswoman and founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, Inc. Wikipedia: Mary Kay Ash