Saturday, February 21, 2009

Winter Bee


Willow catkins are opening up these days, offering plenty of pollen for bees to gather in their leg pouches.

6 comments:

Babzy.B said...

beautiful up close shot :)

tell leo once said...

The bee seems to snuggle away from the cold air. I wonder, do bees feel cold?

How are the bee keepers of Willits, by the way? Are they seeing colony collapse disorder in their hives?

Petrea Burchard said...

I'm happy to see a healthy bee! John and I found a busy hive last week, and I'm not telling where. It's a rare pleasure lately to see them doing well.

This is a beautiful close-up.

Kym said...

This is a nice photo in the small size shown here but when I clicked on it, I loved it.

abc said...

Our bees only come out around summertime. Nice picture though.

USelaine said...

Babzy - Thank you.

Leo - It was pretty sunny last Friday, but luckily another storm is here now. I've seen some hive boxes out on the Reynolds Highway, and I haven't heard anything locally about bees in trouble. I've also seen a couple of local honey brands on the Mariposa shelves, so they must be okay so far.

P - As Leo alludes, we all worry for the health of these guys. It seems right that we have heightened gratefulness for them.

Kym - Thank you! I took nearly a dozen shots, but my focus failed on most of them. This guy was in the right place at the right time.

Marc - I don't know much about the life cycles of bees. Wherever the winter blooming rosemary is, they seem to show up for it. I was glad to discover a bunch of them working on this willow.

Thanks everybody!