Posted in Bee to Flower relationship, Bee Video, Bee-loving flowers, Music video, Natural Beekeeping, Videos, tagged bee-loving flowers, bees and poppies, bees on Oregon Coast, macro nature video, natural beekeeping, pollinators, poppy pollination, Sanyo Xacti, Wild pollinators on June 20, 2015| 6 Comments »
A frame from the video shows the bee covered with purple pollen.
This bee fell from the poppy which was wet from the sprinkler. I spotted it here before it took off.
June 19…Unidentified street performers provide the perfect background music for the bee gathering poppy pollen video.
Posted in Bee to Flower relationship, Bee Video, Bee-loving flowers, Natural Beekeeping, Videos, tagged Bee Video, bee-loving flowers, Bees intimate relationship with flowers, bees on Scotch Broom, bees pollinating scotch broom, Canon SX-50, Cytisus scoparius, honey bees, natural beekeeping, Sanyo Xacti, Scotch Broom pollen shower on May 10, 2015| 13 Comments »
This is far from National Geographic video quality, but it does show the intimate relationship between the bee and the flower. The bee lands on the flower petals, spreads out the lower ones, then triggers the pollen release possibly by pushing something with it’s head…I couldn’t see that part, but when it happens, it’s sudden and strong, like an explosion.
May 3…Here’s a pretty variegated Scotch Broom (Cytisus scoparius). You can tell that a bee has been there , because the stamen have already popped up.
Pollen Alert…bee has triggered a pollen shower, stamen pop up and rub anthers on her back.
This bee has learned well how to trigger the pollen release as can be seen by the amount of pollen on herself.
I shot this video to show what our bees are doing when they leave the hive. It may surprise you. 🙂
Posted in Bee to Flower relationship, Bee Video, Macro bee video, Music video, Natural Beekeeping, Videos, tagged bees on moss, bees on old leaves, Canon SX-50, Free Music Archive, La Tabú, macro nature video, Sanyo Xacti on February 1, 2015| 21 Comments »
A couple of weeks ago we started seeing bees gather in a little pond beneath the willow tree. It looked like they were sipping the water where moss was growing.
January 22…Three bees spotted on this patch of moss.
Into the moss…
January 22…I’ve heard bees like “dirty” water, so I guess this mossy water is no surprise, but I wonder what they’re getting out of it.
Feb. 2…Being a day of steady drizzle, I checked again to see if the bees were here. Yes, this time I saw more bees. They are truly dedicated bees.
February 3…this photo is taken from a video when it was raining, but it still shows bees that are visiting the moss even though the water is covering most of it.
Some more video of honeybees active in the moss while it’s raining…
Posted in Bee to Flower relationship, Bee-loving flowers, Hummingbirds, Natural Beekeeping, New Zealand Flax, Videos, tagged Canon SX-50, carved wood hive, hummingbirds and New Zealand Flax, Kiera O'Hara, natural beekeeping, New Zealand Flax and ants, New Zealand Flax and bees, Sanyo Xacti on July 22, 2014| 8 Comments »
July 18, 2014…Although I walk past this New Zealand Flax just about every day, I never took notice of it until it started blooming about a week ago. I became curious whether bees would be attracted to it. Yes, they were…even as early as 8:30 am..
July 17, 2014…bee going deep for nectar. I recently read a website that stated honeybees can’t get the nectar from New Zealand Flax, and yet I saw many honeybees attending these blossoms.
July 12, 2014…Hummingbirds also visited, but were often chased away by rivals. Why is that? There is plenty to go around. “Why can’t they cooperate for the common good,” my wife wonders? I have no idea…Why can’t humans cooperate for the common good? Looking at our blue planet from space, seeing nothing around that’s habitable for light year distances, you’d think we’d want to work together for our mutual survival.
Just some random thoughts in light of the disturbing current world affairs.
July 14, 2014…When I saw reddish orange pollen coming into my Bee-atrice Log Hive, I wondered where it was coming from.
Reddish orange pollen, coming from the New Zealand Flax.
Ants like it too. When I was shooting the video I waited and waited until this ant emerged, then another came up, and another.
History of flax use in New Zealand
The Short Story of Flax in New Zealand
How to clean and harvest New Zealand Flax
Posted in Bee-loving flowers, Log hives, Natural Beekeeping, Uncategorized, Videos, Warre Hive, tagged bee-loving flowers, beekeeping, Canon SX-50, Gardening, honey bees, Log hive wood carving, Log hives, macro, natural beekeeping, nature photography, organic gardening, photography, pollinators, Sanyo Xacti, Sustainable living, Verticle log hive, Wild pollinators on February 22, 2013| 8 Comments »
Could this be pollen from the laurel bush? It’s been blooming since Jan. 22. I know that you can’t tell by color alone, but at this time I don’t have the microscope or capability to properly identify pollen.
This is the first year I’ve had bees into winter. I was curious about all the types of pollen showing up on the bees entering the hive. I was sure some of it was gorse since we seem to have so much of it growing thanks to Lord Bennett of Ireland.
I made a 9 minute movie showing the bees on different types of flowers and Shigeo of the local bee association demonstrates how to transplant an Echium. I realize that some people can’t spare the time, so I’m offering ‘screen saves,’ as well.
Laurel blooming by Bonnie’s house
Bee on laurel, tannish-colored pollen…January 22, 2013
Bees on rosemary, at City Hall, February 8, 2013
Willow catkins blooming near our hives…sun comes out…bees love it. February 8,2013
Gorse pollen is orange…I had been hoping it was the yellow pollen I had seen going into the hive. February 13, 2013
The video shows this bee in slow motion working the pollen back to it’s pollen sac. I didn’t see it at first until a more experience bee keeper showed me. February 13, 2013
Bee on heather, 2-14-13, right up the street from Joe and Karen’s house.
Bee on acacia, 2-15-13…Shigeo showed me this place to get some video. By the time we got to it, the bees were returning to home so I only got a short clip of it.
Shigeo shows how to transplant an Echium Tree.
Echium for 2013…I’m hoping this plant will shoot up 10 feet (3 m) starting about April or May. The tarp protects against freezing weather.
These are the plants that Shigeo demonstrated in the video, how to transplant. They are my hope for 2014
We planted this echium in late October 2011. It just stood still for several months. About April or May we noticed it had grown to about 10 feet. The bees worked it for 3 solid months.
The video shows the bees in action on the flowers. I used the Canon SX-50 (50x optical zoom) on the laurel as well as the willow catkins. My little pocket camera, a Sanyo Xacti performed admirably for the rest of the close ups…I love the ‘super macro’ feature.
Adventures in Natural Beekeeping 