Saturday, January 14, 2012

A New Love




If you had asked me two days ago if I had ever seen an Australian native bee I would have said "No". I knew next to nothing about native bees and had no idea they were happily buzzing away in my own garden until yesterday. This morning I found they were still enjoying my garden (which may well be their home). Then I noticed a larger bee.....







These are Blue Banded Bees, another species of Australian native bee which are larger than the first native bees I "discovered", have a furry golden thorax and quite different eyes. I have found quite a number of both species in the front and back yard today.







They love feeding on the nectar from many different flowers in the garden, the Australian Everlasting Daisies proving to be quite popular today! I'm learning to move slowly, take time to stand still and listen as well as look when I take a walk around the garden.

Sharing at Camera Critters, Today's Flowers, I Heart Macro, The Simple Things, Macro Monday, Sweet Shot Tuesday,
Shoot Edit Submit (weekly winner - first photo).

67 comments:

HANS-PETER ZÜRCHER said...

Wunderbar und grossartid diese Macros...

Liebe Grüsse aus der Schweiz

Hans-Peter

Joop Zand said...

Very nice macro's and lovely colors.....great shots Karen.

Nadege, said...

That first image is just magical...beautiful colors on the flower and amazing details on the bee.
Great captures.

Ruby said...

These are lovely!!

posie blogs Jennie McClelland said...

Oh wow, what a find & such a pretty bee, well done, love Posie

Karin M. said...

Oh my goodness...sooooo very nice macro's...I liked all your pictures...
Greetings Karin

s.c said...

The first one let the sun shine in the room . Really great one. Keep clicking.

eileeninmd said...

Awesome captures of the bees and the flowers are all just gorgeous. Great photos, have a great weekend!

Jeanne said...

These are lovely, and such perfect focus on the bees! Love the daisies too! Have a wonderful day

geanina said...

beautiful shots! have a nice day :)

Larry said...

Such wonderful photos... are these strawflowers? They are so beautiful! Larry

Filip said...

It is strange how the same animal can look so different depending to the background. Great pictures.

Greetings,
Filip

Sylvia K said...

Fantastic captures of the bees and flowers! So colorful! I can almost smell the flowers from here!! Enjoy your weekend and the sunshine!

Sylvia

Liz said...

Gorgeous captures of bees, Karen! You have so much colour in your garden. It's beautiful.

Gail Dixon said...

Your photos make me want to visit Australia. Such amazing beauty all captured expertly with your camera!

Angie said...

You have the loveliest yard, Karen. Just simply lovely. I love reading your blog because I always know that not only will I see beautiful images, but I'll learn something new about them, too. :)

Debbie said...

wow....you got some amazing shots of both the bee and the flowers.

i LOVE your background music, it's very soothing!!

Unknown said...

Absolutely stunning shots.

DeniseinVA said...

It's wonderful to go around the world and see the different types of bees. You have some beauties here, lovely photos of them.

monika@mysweetprairie.ca said...

WOw. Are those bees or wasps? I'm on the otherside of the world here. Our bees (with stingers on their bums)are fuzzy. The wasps (with biters because they are carnivores) are smooth.
CRAZY!
Those flowers look amazing!

~Monika : )

Lui said...

I love the monochromatic spread!

Anonymous said...

Your photos are very beautiful! Great shots of the bees too. The blue-banded bees fascinate me and I have them buzzing around my coleus blooms most of the time.

Joanna said...

So beautiful. It's winter here in Victoria BC so I love being able to see bees on flowers. Your blog is special.

Chubskulit Rose said...

Lovely shots.


My critter post. Please come and see.

Annette said...

The flowers are just gorgeous and the bees are an added bonus! Nice shots!

Modern Mom said...

Beautiful series of shots.

Pink Bougainvillea

Unknown said...

Both bees look amazing. But the second one looks so different. I love that shot..

Hugs, Linda

thefisherlady said...

you have captured them brilliantly!
they look drunk and quite content!

Anonymous said...

your shots are wonderful.

Marijke said...

They insects on the flowers lookes very beautiful.
have a nice sunday

rebecca said...

absolutely gorgeous! your brightly coloured photos are such a contrast to the cold/grey days here...they brighten my week! :) thanks for linking up as always!

BlueShell said...

I'm amazed!
What a gorgeous set of photos you've got here!
Wonderful blog!

SquirrelQueen said...

Amazing photos of the bees. I am fascinated by the Blue Banded Bee, I have never seen any here that remotely resemble that one. Great macros and I love all your flowers.

BlueShell said...

Thank you for your visit. It is an honor to me!
I'm following you, because I really like your blog!
Thank you again!
BShell

Giga said...

Ja lubi biegać za pszczołami i robić im zdjęcia na kwiatkach.Wasze są troszkę inne, od tych co fruwają u nas. Piękne zdjęcia. Pozdrawiam.
I like to run for the bees and make pictures on them are a little different kwiatkach.Wasze, from those who fly with us. Beautiful pictures. Yours.

Anonymous said...

What luscious shots! That bee is a lovely fellow - and without them, our flowers would not exist...

Pieni Lintu said...

Great colors!

Unknown said...

Beautiful macro photo.
Marit , Norway.

Anonymous said...

You had me at bees...I just wrote about and painted bees today. They are a fascinating lot for sure.. Their rules and the way they run their communities..we all could learn a lot... Those are great pics... In the blue banded one you can see their little pollen/nectar baskets on her legs...really cool.
Loved seeing bees I have never seen before.
T

Sherri B. said...

What stunning photos! Thanks so much for sharing.

Isabelle said...

enjoyed so much your photos today; some flowers seem to have been drawn with a pencil... really beautiful

NatureFootstep said...

cool. How fun to discover new species. :) The second bee looks quite weird. :)

Debbie B. said...

Your photographs are beautiful. I love the music too. The combo reminds me of a feature on CBS Sunday Morning - my favorite.

Unknown said...

Oh my goodness. That flower is absolutely magnificent. I am so thankful for bees! I can't believe how important they are to our world. : )

Lanlizzy said...

Stunning photos!
All is well with me and my garden, thank you. I have returned to work and a little slow to post on my blog at present. My garden is still a little sad from the hail stone damage, but nothing that wont mend eventually. I must get the camera out and about tonight after work, it should be a lovely day today to do so.
Take care
Leanne

Art said...

These pictures are really beautiful, lovely colors!

Anonymous said...

Moving slowly...standing still...listening - for some reason, these actions are often so hard to do or remember to do. I have to remind myself constantly but, most times, I forget. Maybe this should be one of my New Year's resolutions I'm still working on compiling. Outstanding photos, beautifully sharp!

Karen said...

Terrific shots, and interesting little blue banded bees.

Gillian Olson said...

These are beautiful crisp close ups. Those bees are very different from one another. The flowers are so lovely, no wonder the bees like them.

Kjell T. Evensen said...

You have a lot of beautiful images. A great blog.

Thank you for visiting my blog today.

Rick said...

I think I could learn something about patience from you. These macros are stunning - what great captures of the complexity of a piece of God's good creation !

Spare Parts and Pics said...

A wonderful post with excellent macro shots!

Anna said...

Great macro shots Sunshine!
And I love the bees, you have capture them beautifully.
Greetings from a wintery Holland,
Anna :-))

Stewart M said...

Hi there - great shots - we get the little blue banded bees in our garden as well - but I have not managed to get any pictures yet.

Yours set the bar very high!

Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

Sue mcb said...

I saw one of those blue banded bees yesterday for the first time too! Gorgeous little creatures, but so fast I did not get a good shot. Thanks for your comments on my blog too.

Cecilia Artista said...

Beautiful shots of the bees and the flowers! Like them very much!

Kim, USA said...

I don't blame the bees if they like to stay in your garden your flowers are beautiful!

Macro Monday

Kala said...

Fantastic details in these images!

Happy MM

Molly said...

Great shots... I found bees very tricky to get right last summer, they seemed too active. Every time I got the focus sorted they buzzed off, quite literally.

Mollyxxx

L. said...

These photos are just stunning! Those bees are certainly something else and your garden is lovely. :D

Jaymi said...

wow I've never seen bees that look like that! Your pictures of them are great! It's so hard to focus on a moving bee but you did a great job!

Deanna said...

Oh thanks for bringing some sunshine, gorgeous images, and beautiful music to my life

Aiketa said...

Oooooh these pictures are amazing!! I really like the ones with the bee and the flower. Beautiful!

Cedar said...

Really impressive captures! I remember discovering bees last spring, but I found them tricky to capture. Great job!

Kim said...

Oh my, these photos are spectacular. I love the bright colors, too. It is just what I needed in the middle of our dull dreary winter. :)

Liz said...

Congratulations on your win!! The photo is absolutely amazing.

Pam said...

wow! I am just amazed at the beautiful clarity and detail you continually capture! i so love all your pics....and didn't realize until just now that your picture of the bee on the flower was the winner i've been admiring over at shoot.edit.submit. congrats!!

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