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This beautiful tree caught my attention and made an immediate stop on my way. Although, it was an old tree as you can see the large trunk but,it was cleanly cut and well-trimmed.How wonderful to see a well shaped tree,looks natural.I don’t know how old is this tree. It looks like a beautiful bonsai tree. This was taken in Taiwan last month. It seems, I’m not only an insect hunter,I’m also a plant hunter now.
This is the continuation of the first 3 posts I’ve posted earlier,it’s all about bees as an ”agent of pollination.’‘ Although it’s similar with the previous one, Oh well, actually, I’m curious on how they pollinate and how fast they move.I’ve photographed entirely the complete and exact movement, as well as body parts. What I have here is the step-by-step and continous movement of bees upon pollination. Let’s get started!
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The first step, A honey bee approaching the white flower.
It’s just a curiosity, I want to know time consumed upon pollinating.
The right foreleg landed first before the middle and the hind legs. Without using ant tripod to shoot. I’ve moved my camera quietly and slowly.I don’t want to distract the bees movement.
The honeybee is now on top.
The honeybee close-up. You can clearly view here the 2 forelegs is now closely attached holding the anther of a flower. The clear view of the bee’s body parts; antennae,compound eyes is shiny black, head is triangular in shape,proboscis, foreleg and middle leg, ocelli and the black thorax.
This is the back view.
The 2 forelegs bringing the anther closely to its jaw. The bee has 2 antennaes, you can simply see it here. Body parts covered with hair.
The balancing act while sipping the nectar. This is how a bee maintain the right balance on the air. This is just based upon my observation and the photo itself will show you what I’m describing.
It really shows here, the foreleg and the middle leg each holding the anther.The hindlegs maintain to keep the balance.
A bit closer to get a full and clear view.The abdomen have curled a little bit.
The proboscis is very clear in the picture. The bee is now very busy sipping the nectar of this flower.It took only a second for a bee to pollinate a small flower.
It’s now the turn of the hindlegs to get the anthers.
Pushing even more deeper downward. but, where’s the stinger?
I’m swinging my camera to the left and to the right to get a sharp focus.
This is the final part of pollination.After sipping the nectar of this flower, the bee flew to another flower. It’s really a busy bee! I have learned a lot from these bees. I have exerted more effort focusing downward,upward, bending, and twisting. It’s really tough to photograph a flying insect, it keeps on changing directions every time.Never mind about the noisy buzz and the sting, I’m doing my part to cover a very interesting subject of science.
I’m about to snap a flying bee, and this beautiful yellow butterfly landed unexpectedly in front of me. What a sudden surprise! A beautiful yellow butterfly has the power to stop me photographing the previous subject. Instead of bees, my attention was into a butterfly. I was scared to missed the beautiful sight! It caught my attention, and took a snap right away.
For more than a week now, I’ve been very busy photographing agents of pollination like; honeybees, butterflies, and other garden insects. The good thing about it? I’ve learned a lot from these garden insects. I will continue to capture more interesting photos of insects in the garden.
I spent every minute of my time photographing the bees while pollinating the flowers.All my attention was completely glued in photographing these interesting subject of science.Yesterday, I was disappointed,only two photos of bees made it. Other photos not so clear and some blurry. Today, I want to accomplish something,anything to photograph the same subject for the second time around.(Click on image to view larger)
But first of all, I want to identify these kind of garden bees. According to my research, this is a honeybee. It was small with a body color combination of yellow and brown stripes. Upon photographing, I have observed the way they behave and the way they transfer from one flower to another. They actively moves so fast. It took only 2-3 seconds to pollinate a small flower and there after, they will come back to pollinate the same flower again.I cannot even count how many times they come and go.
o far, I was satisfied with the result of my photography,it turned out better than expected. You could be more excited to see the macro shots. I’m using macro to make shooting more easier but, it was a tough close-up shot. The good thing about macro,the smaller image becomes larger. You can even view completely the full body parts of a bee.
I feel so tired using one hand to shoot, making another hand free to move and to make a quick blow in case a bee landed on my face. I feel uncomfortable holding it.My morning ended with the bees. It was an interesting subject. I will continue to post more bee photos and a video of the bees while pollinating the flowers next post.
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I was walking around in the garden and suddenly, I saw a bee pollinating a flower. I Immediately took my camera and snap! It only took a few seconds for a bee to pollinate this little flower. It was tough to photograph a movable bee, it doesn’t keep still. I was holding my camera with a single hand, and one bee landed on my hand. My blood runs cold. I thought,I’m having a heart attack! I didn’t make any move and just a quiet pause until the bee flew away.I felt so much better after that. Whew!What a relief! I took a few shots but,only one came out to be good. Anyway, I was inspired to post the only image here and, I will snap for more tomorrow. Today was just a timely morning visit in the garden.
It’s a morning routine to take a walk through the garden garden and check what’s new! It gives me the welcome feeling of coolness and spaciousness. My frequent visitors around; bees,caterpillars, butterflies, and humming birds.Today is a big surprise! A multi flowers blooming and waving gracefully following the direction of the wind. Don’t forget to click on images to view larger.
Scadoxus multiflorus.This is a flowering bulb actively growing underground that blooms only once a year.It’s a summer bloomer! Bringing a new bloom in the garden creates a mystic feeling.
It’s summertime,this is clearly the season to do some serious looking and caring in the garden.I prefer a garden that looks natural although, my garden is not that big enough to plant other varieties of flowering plants. I’m planning to expand in order to create more spaces for other garden accents. It needs a little renovation in the patio. It requires a shade to block the direct sunlight, to protect the existing plants which is too sensitive to sunlight.For the plants, I prefer flowering plants with a minimum maintenance and a tree to create a shade for a purpose. This summer is the time to what needs to be done in the garden.I love all kinds of flowering plants as long as it looks attractive and the flowers quite beautiful.
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Oh! It’s a fuzzy worms I found in my garden. It’s a beautiful caterpillars! These caterpillars has the same pattern and color, banded with brightly green yellowish white stripes and dotted black. They have blue eyes and red thoracic legs.I found them crawling and balancing on the same stem of the host plant. They have the same color with the host plant. It seems there’s no give and take as they blocked each others way climbing on top.
Days ago, I’ve seen both of them swinging and hanging on the surface of small leaf. I remember they were still tiny and light at that time, even a small leaf can accommodate both of them. How wonderful to see immediate changes,they become bigger,fatter and heavier that a small leaf can’t hold anymore.This day is the most disgusting and destructive stage. I hate to see what they are doing now.They spend all time eating non-stop. They ate all the leaves of the host plant. While photographing them, I’ve counted no. of leaves eaten by them,they ate 7 small leaves. What an appetite!
I will continue observing them everyday,checking and following their path so I can get full details of everyday changes. I’m not going to capture them, I’ll just set them free so they can move around freely. It takes time, 2 weeks maybe, I will note counting no. of days it takes caterpillar to become a real butterfly.The most interesting part, is to see what happen in the life cycle of a real insect.I’m excited to see changes , Let’s see! I will wait for the caterpillars to become a pupa,and out of pupa, It will become a real insect. I will wait for these caterpillars to become a beautiful butterfly!
I will give you a follow-up of these soon. I’m still in the process of gathering full details. I will welcome all comments. Thank you my dear readers.
Today is a sunny day and I decided to take a stroll around my backyard and I was surprised to see my flowers blooming into something more than I ever imagined. My garden became the most comfortable and a private place to relax. It has a greatful simplicity view especially if you see blooming flowers with butterflies, and the bees around it. Not to mention the presence of hummingbirds as the prettiest visitors.It really draws attention and welcoming glow eventhough, It has been neglected over the past weeks. Oh yes! This is the right time to express my satisfaction because of my hardwork and patience working in the garden. Now, Let me show you one of my favourite flower in my own backyard that attracts immediate attention,
This is a Mickey Mouse Flower. It’s so beautiful that It draws too much attention and welcoming glow to my visitors. It exudes an atmosphere which is compellingly different. You don’t need wealth to create a beautiful or ideal garden of distinction, What you need is a good taste to make good effects and a working knowledge in selecting a good flower like these. Anyway, Hard work pays off and it’s worth it.