Bees

There are many people that dislike bees or are afraid of them. They swat them or spray them with chemicals and kill them, but bees are extremely important. They are not only important to the environment, they are important to all life on earth, including ours. Bees are one of the primary ways that most vegetation on earth gets pollinated. According to the USDA 75% of the fruits, nuts, and vegetables grown in the US are pollinated by bees. There is a symbiotic relationship between bees and flowering plants. The flowers provide nectar which the bees feed on and in exchange the bees transfer pollen from one flower to the next. With out the other each would most likely disappear. Animals also have a symbiotic relationship with plants. We put carbon dioxide into the air, the plants use the carbon dioxide and return oxygen to the air. So next time you go to kill a bee remember that the bee is pollinating the flowers that are providing the oxygen that you breath.   

Bee with Full Pollen Sacks

 

I photographed this bee at the Resaca de la Palma in south Texas. The yellow powder on the under side of the bee is pollen and if you look closely at the rear leg of the bee you will notice a full pollen sack. The bee will take the pollen back to the hive where it will be made into honey. The bees use the honey to feed the young and store it to eat as food, for times that flower nectar is not available. 

Bee Macro

With the warm weather we have been having this spring I have been seeing bees busy around for about a month now. Bees are important because they are one of the main pollinators for plants. You can see the pollen sacks on the back leg of this bee. If you look close you can see small amounts of loose pollen on the front legs and antennae. This loose pollen will fall of when the bee is in a flower and it will pollinate the plant that the flower belongs too.

Bee

Bees typically make good subjects for macro photography. They are usually pretty ambivalent to people and cameras so they are not often scared off like butterflies and dragonflies. You just have to be careful not to bother them too much otherwise you may be the one running.

Summer Time Bee

I photographed this macro of a bumble bee collecting nectar and pollen from butterfly weed at Crex Meadows in the summer. No bees around Minnesota now, but it looks like we are on our way to a brown Christmas for the first time that I can remember. You never know though, the weather people have been known to get it wrong on an occasion or two.

Bee

Symbiotic Relationship

Bees and flowers have a symbiotic relationship. Flowers provide the bee with pollen, which they typically feed to their larvae, and food in the form of nectar. In return the bee will typically carry excess pollen which is stuck to the tiny hairs on their feet and body, which will often fall into the next flower that they are feeding on thus pollinating the plant so that it can produce seeds. This type of symbiosis, between two different species for the benefit of both, is called mutualism.

Bee

It Bee Tuesday

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Bumble Bee

Hungry Bee

Bumble Bee

Bees

Honey Bee

Bee

Bumble Bee

Wordless - Bee

Bee

Honey Bee

Earth Week Celebration

This coming Thursday, April 22nd, is Earth Day. This is a very important day for environmentalists, and all people who care about nature, around the world. Earth Day has another significance for me though, this Thursday will be the third anniversary of the Ecobirder blog. To celebrate our anniversary I would like to share the pics that I put into my 2010 calendar with you. Each year I put together a calendar with some of the best pics that I took that year for my family and friends. Maybe some day I might end up making them more available to people but for now I will share them with you as my blog posts for this week.

This first shot was taken at Crex Meadows and it is one of two macro pics included in the calendar.