Previous reports have included "best of" versions for both
hummingbirds and
butterflies and it came to mind a short while ago that a "best of the bees" issue was long overdue.
I have spent most of my life having a relationship with bees which was marked by extreme avoidance bordering on fear. As a young child I had a rather traumatic episode in a swimming pool where I was the only one not inclined to submerge when a bee was hovering over the water. Naturally, all of the other (older) kids disturbed the bee upon submerging and I was left to be stung and stung I was. I don't recall if it was that incidence or a latter one but it was determined (perhaps only by my mother) that I was allergic to bees. I got sick and had a fever... apparently.
March forward 50+ years. I found the cure in 2011. I got my 1st DSLR camera and discovered a remarkable level of braveness and confidence photographing bees. Getting my best shot overrode everything else. I will go so far as to say we've developed a friendship of sorts. Shortly thereafter something else happened... I got stung by a bee. Right smack in the center of the most sensitive part of one's palm. This wasn't while
tempting fate taking pictures but rather by sticking my hand in some city mulch to facilitate getting it from my vehicle onto a snow shovel.
Here I was, from childhood to adulthood, led to believe I was allergic to bees. An interesting thing to examine, how we are able to put so much faith in childhood beliefs. My initial reaction was a combination of an incredible rush of pain, pulling the stinger, washing my hand with a nearby garden hose and getting inside and by a phone. I honestly didn't know what to expect and using Dr. Google was kinda discouraging. But, basically... nothing happened, nothing beyond a normal reaction anyway. According to WebMD "most people are not allergic to insect stings and may mistake a normal sting reaction for an allergic reaction." 'Nice to finally get this straight, don't always believe what you've been told.
Onto the bees...
Bees on California poppies.
Bee bottoms...
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| Inside a cape honeysuckle flower |
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| Inside a banksia flower |
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| Spotted Emu Bush |
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| A bearded iris |
Excursion into a cactus flower...
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| Back on the outside |
Just looking...
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| Cape hioneysuckle |
Bee on Melaleuca flowers...
Hanging around...
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| Note the ant on the bottom of the left flowers |
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| Some sort of salvia |
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| Hakea minyma flower |
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| No plant ID |
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| On gilia tricolor |
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| On borage |
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| Callistemon pallidus aka lemon bottlebrush |
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| Lantana |
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| Narrow leaved milkweed |
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| Perezii statice |
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| Back to the emu bush |
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| A couple of bees in borage flowers |
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| Inside an opuntia flower |
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| Drenched by rain, bee rests on ox-eye daisy |
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| Apache plume |
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| No plant Id |
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| Bee blissing on bee's bliss sage |
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| Arroyo lupine |
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| Cosmos bipinnatus |
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| Clarkia unguiculata |
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| Another bee swirling around inside an opuntia flower |
Heading in...
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| White sage |
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| Blue bee |
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| Heading into Caesalpinia gilliesii |
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| More fun with Caesalpinia gilliesii |
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| Salvia apiana (white sage, bee sage, or sacred sage). Find the ant, win no prize |
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| More cactus flowers |
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| Some type of catmint |
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| Crassula perforata flowers |
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| Grapefruit flower |
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| Another blue bee on gilia tricolor |
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| Another shot on Crassula perforata flowers |
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| Another cactus flower find |
Heading out...
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| Alyogyne huegelii 'White Swan' |
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| Alyogyne huegelii 'White Swan' |
The Valley carpenter bee, Xylocopa varipuncta, in brown and the California carpenter bee, Xylocopa californica in black...
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| Cercis occidentalis, western redbud. Note the honey bee in the background. |
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| Salvia uliginosa |
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| Collinsia Heterophylla, Chinese houses |
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| Palo Verde |
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| Salvia uliginosa |
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| Gulf-Fritillary butterfly (Agraulis vanillae) and a carpenter-bee |
Bumblebees, bee genus Bombus...
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| Maybe Salvia leucophylla |
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| Same salvia |
