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Friday, August 16, 2013

Bees and Beetles at Ouabache State Park

On a recent visit to Ouabache State Park, rain moved in and forced us to move from our favorite spot under the trees by the lake to a pavilion. At the pavilion, we found a corner inhabited by dozens of bees, which were actively flying in and out of a small opening. I tried for some photos, in spite of the darkness and the difficulty focusing on flying objects, two of the resulting pictures were very interesting, although not great from a technical standpoint.

A bee flying away from me toward the crack that seemed to be the door to the community of bees.

This one seems to be coming right at me.

Another day, another bee

This Japanese beetle was dining on a daisy fleabane plant.

Update: I'd like to thank Stephen Hayes for pointing out that the subjects in the first two photos in this post appear to be Yellow Jackets, which are wasps, rather than bees.



11 comments:

  1. Hi Linda Great flying shots. Now I am just learning about insects and I think bees have 4 wings and these look as it they have 2 wings which would put them in the fly section. I am just about to fly on holidays but I might try and find this out while I am away. I find all these insects very confusing.

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  2. Your photos are beautiful!
    Greetings from, RW & SK

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  3. oh, i like that first bee shot a lot! nice catch! the last 2 are classic beauties. love the hooked foot of the japanese beetle!

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  4. These are marvelous macros of the bees and beetle. You did very well with the photos taken in the pavilion. I'll be happy to send you as many Japanese beetles as you would like to photograph. They're very hard on our roses.

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  5. Nice job on these photos! I love the flying bees, but the last two photos are really superb!

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  6. Fantastic and interesting shots.That last beetle is quite colourful.

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  7. YUK on the Japanese Beetles.. They can really damage a rose blossom.... BUT--the bees are GREAT. We have lots of them and they are very busy now... We also have butterflies --which we didn't have earlier in the summer...

    Great set of photos.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  8. The third bee pictured looks so much different than the first two, Are you sure the first two are bees and not yellow jackets? I'm not knowledgeable of such things and really don't know.

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  9. Linda, such lovely photos. The Japanese beetle is beautiful, I love the colours.

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  10. Wonderful shots, once again, Linda. You are capturing such beauty. I'm so glad you're enjoying your camera.

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  11. I learned something new....I did not know that yellow jackets are not bee's. I do know they both sting. :) The beetle picture is my favorite. :)

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