Sunday, July 14, 2013

Buzz of sweetness

I spent some time photographing bees with my macro lens on Friday, and was very happy with the results!


Here's a girl coming in for milkweed. 


Her reddish proboscis (tongue) is hanging out in anticipation! It's the long thing angling backwards from her "chin." And her claw-like feet are covered in yellow nectar, fron climbing around on the flowers.



Here's a bee on some sort of thistle.


They were going crazy on these and the milkweed!



Milkweed is quite beautiful if you look at it up close, and it smells amazing!




She's just loading up on nectar!



Incoming!



Such beautiful little creatures. Bees are very gentle while foraging; they are so focussed on collecting pollen and nectar that they will rarely bother you. I had my lens within an inch of some of these bees, and they didn't care at all.



And here's a worker bee on butterfly weed (aka Asclepias tuberosa), which is in fact another variety of milkweed. We also have swamp milkweed on our farm, in the damper spots. It likes wet feet!

I swear, I'm gonna make you all LOVE honey bees. :)

26 comments:

  1. I've never been a fan of bees... but I love your pictures!

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  2. I just LOVE the incoming Bee :)
    My mom-person likes a lot to tkae photo´s with her Macro lens and she is waiting for the thistle´s to start bloom so she can take some photos on Bee´s and other insect´s :)

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    1. Ooh, I would love to see those photos!

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  3. You really get up close and personal with your bees--I love it.

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  4. I have the urge to sing Duran Duran's "Girls on Film"!
    Jane x

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  5. I'm always fascinated by the detail shown with the macro lens. The behavior of bees can be understood much better.

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    1. I just love that lens!! I see so much more with it.

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  6. Those are some awesome photographs!!!! You should enter them for National Geographic contests :)

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  7. Oh my gosh, these images are AMAZING! Especially the detail in the pollen on the legs and the one with the wings in motion. And the colors are so vibrant! Ok, I need a macro lens stat :) Which one do you use?

    I love your goal of making everyone love honeybees - I've found myself trying to do that a lot lately as well. David and I were just talking the other day about how there are so many misconceptions about bees. It's true that they are gentle when they're out foraging. I've taken close up photos of them and they don't even seem to notice I'm there!

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    1. I have a Nikon AF-S Micro Nikkor 40 mm 1:2.8G (she says, reading the label on the lens.) I am really happy with it and my new Nikon D7100!

      Glad you are spreading the love of honeybees! I find people are pretty receptive once they start learning what honey bees are really like, and all the mysteries of the hive.

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  8. Can't make me love them Natalie, cos I already do......your photos are wonderful. Must be fun using the macro lense.
    The second pic is amazing, such detail, wow !
    What on earth does Milkweed smell like, I can't begin to imagine.

    Claire x

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    1. It smells like heaven! Ambrosial! Well, I will try to think of a more detailed description. But it smells surprisingly good. :)

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  9. Anonymous10:19 pm

    Fabulous photos!

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  10. Amazing photos... even at high-speed through my mostly closed eyes!

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    1. You are brave for even looking. Bravo!

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  11. Fantastic photos !!

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  12. Excellent photos!

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  13. I don't know about loving honey bees, but I certainly love your photos, they're fantastic!

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Thank you for all your comments, which I love to read!