Photo Opp

We've had the bees for a month and every few minutes we are home, one of us runs outside to check on them and then reports about the activity. If Kelly comes home for lunch during the workday, he calls to tell me what the bees are doing.

So far the reports have been pretty similar and go like this. . .

Whew--weee! Those bees are busy. They are really buzzin' around.
They are bringing back gobs of pollen.

A steady diet of that same observation repeated over and over may seem a bit boring, but so far we haven't tired of it. In fact, the gobs of pollen thing is fascinating. You can see the pollen on the legs of the bees returning to the hive. Some of the pollen is almost white, some a pale yellow, some orange, and some almost gold.

Capturing a photo of the bees has been almost impossible, cause they won't pose. And, it is difficult to focus the camera close enough to get a shot. At some point I acquired some macro filters, which are really just magnifying glasses you screw on to your lens. I fitted them to my camera and knelt in the mud next to the hive, bracing my arm against the top of it--shoo'd Chai out of the way, got my lens inches from the hive, focused on a spot and waited. This little overachiever roamed into my view.

Most of the little guys don't have a load. quite this big. Maybe that's why he stopped to rest where I could get a shot.

The macro filters are also good for taking photos of flowers. Here is a honeysuckle in the yard.