Sunflower in full glory
Presenting the big-ass sunflower that was just a tall weed that I hoped was a sunflower about a month ago. If you look close enough, you might see the bee on its face. And what’s the bee here for?
Three bees on a sunflower
Same as these three. Same as the bees on the Virginia Creeper. The pollen. There’s lots and lots of pollen for hungry bees.
The pollen dusting this green sweat bee
The pollen all over this bumblebee.
The pollen filling the saddlebags on this little sweat bee
The pollen falling down to the leaves.
But unlike the Virginia Creeper, there’s a different assortment. There’s bumblebees, of course. There’s the occasional Agopostemon virescens, the green sweat bees I’ve been seeing all summer. The most common ones are the little Halictus ligatus, which I’ve only recently identified, but have been seeing since I started the hunt for little bees. The ones I haven’t seen on the sunflower are honeybees.
Where did they go?
Filed under: garden | Tagged: Agapostemon, bees, bumblebee, halictus, sunflower
Love the photos! Beautiful! I love the photo of the little sweat bee filling her pouches with the pollen just beautiful! And the one with pollen dusted all over it
Save the bee, save the world!
Thank you! If you like pollen-covered bees, look for the squash bees.