Tuesday, March 26, 2024

[Dave]

Another shot of a bee gathering Oxalis pollen; taken Sunday...

   

[Dreamin]

Dave, this is an excellent shot of the bee, and what a great backdrop for him!! Love all the pollen!! No blown highlights and very sharp image!! My brother checked the bees again, put another box on top as they are very crowded and he does not want them to swarm ......I have a bunch of angry bees out there now!! I wish I had taken his photo yesterday, he had about 200 bees trying to sting him ( he got 3 stings near his ankles!) but I did not get out of the car.....they even tried to get in the closed windows!!

Some time last night a barge hit the Francis Scott Key bridge and the bridge collapsed!! It's one of the main arteries around Baltimore, MD.....Someone caught it on video....still searching for survivors, cars were on the bridge.....you can google the bridge to see it if you want. So sad......

[Luv2shoot]

Dave, Natalie is correct. Your image is bold and beautiful. It appears that your lens is in tip top shape.

Natalie, what do you do with angry bees? I wonder why they are angry. Are there explanations for that bad temperament. I would hate to have to worry about getting stung. It sounds like they were flying into and smacking into your car window, or just crawling around on the outside. Do you have to keep cleaning the hives?


What does your brother say about the angry bees? I am sure you remember that I just mentioned recently that he has two hives in his backyard.

My brother now carries an Eppie pen with him since he has developed an allergic reaction to bee stings. Do you have to buy a new queen bee every year? I think my brother actually has a warmer on his hives so that the bees can stay in it over the winter months where he lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He has sensors on the hives that connect remotely to his computer so he can monitor the temps, traffic, honey production etc. It is all pretty interesting. It charts everything for him and that fact that he is an engineer, it certainly appeals to him.

LORELL

[Dreamin]

Lorell, the bee workers clean their hives......it's amazing what they push out the door......Not sure why my bees are the angry type this year. Last year I had docile bees.....but they swarmed and half the hive left, and they created a new queen and maybe she has different genes.....I sure hope they are not going to stay this way. The bees could see me thru the glass and landed on the window and tried to find an opening. No way was I going to open the window or get out!! My brother is going to get a new queen and hope that she will breed calmer bees. My brother carries an eppie pen also.
Any worker bee female larva can become a queen. Each queen bee develops in a special honeycomb cell called a 'queen cell' that looks somewhat like a peanut. . Nurse bees begin feeding larva a strict diet of royal jelly, a milky white substance that be bees secrete from the tops of their heads. The exclusive diet of royal jelly turns on the female larva's reproductive system, turning her into a queen. Sometimes my brother will see several of these queen cells in a hive. That means the hive is going to replace it's old queen. When the new queen larva hatch they will fight until one is left alive and she will find the old queen and kill her and replace her. If my brother can move one of those queen cells into my hive, a new queen may hatch to replace the old queen. Aren't bees interesting?

[Dave]

Thank you Natalie and Lorell.

I was simply in the right place at the right time, and was lucky to have an appealing subject, a nice light, and a few seconds now and then when the wind stopped. All I had to do was not mess up the shot, and show some restraint in processing.

And thanks for the interesting info about the bees. Apian behavior has evolved to become a very complex and effective system that helps the bees survive and prosper.

[Rich]

Bee----utiful Dave! A winner in anyone's book. A good image for Corporate America offices!

Lorell and Natalie, thanks for the bee info it is fascinating!