Busy as a Bee

We've all heard that expression ~busy as a bee~ but have you ever really taken to time to stop and watch bees at work. I did yesterday, and it was a both engaging and relaxing.

Work has been brutal of late, as it always is this time of year, so I decided I needed to bring my camera with me and take a couple of breaks during the day to watch the bees working.

Bees are on the move all the time and are hard to catch still, so the shots above were an exception to the rule while I was photographing them. Most of the shots I got caught them in motion...

 

The flowers they are pollinating are Bottle Brush bush on the campus of the University of Florida. This time of year the sweet fragrance of those blooms and the constant hum of the bees buzzing is a joy to experience.

Bottle Brush bushes are a favorite of bees, butterflies, and other insects as well, as this wasp confirms...

Although the full blooming flowers are gorgeous...

I love the look of the barely opened buds as well...

When I took another break, later in the afternoon, I decided to walk to another part of campus close to my office building where I knew there were two orange trees in bloom. After all it is Florida, where we're famous for beaches, sunshine and oranges, so it's only natural that UF would have some orange and tangerine trees planted on the campus.

It's pretty amazing what you will see if you really take time to look down on the ground as you walk. On the way there I came across a busy little bee working on a patch of clover along the pathway.

He was far too busy with his job to pay any attention to me...

Around the corner from this busy worker, I found the orange trees. If you've never smelled the luscious, sweet smell of orange blossoms, you don't know what you're missing! Apparently, these bees feel the same way...

Notice that tiny orange ball at the end of the stamen? That's going to be an orange when it grows up :)

These bees will be making some orange blossom honey with all the pollen they're collecting...

Most of us don't truly realize the debt we owe to the tiny honey bee...without them we'd not have many of the fruits and vegetables we enjoy. There's a plight that honey bees and beekeepers are dealing with, it's called Colony Collapse Disorder. In the last few years more than one in three of honey bee hives have died natonwide with serious implications for our food supply. There's no doubt about it, this is a serious problem!

Haagen Dazs has more information on the honey bee crisis and how you can help, here's a link with more information. There's also a recent (March 2010) news article on Discovery about the situation.

Let's hope and pray they find an answer to what's causing the problem and that we can find a way to stop it. I'd be incredibly sad if there came a day where I couldn't have the pleasure of seeing my little friends at work.

 

Rose S. Williams

April 8, 2010

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