Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Lavender Days with Bumblebees


Today was lavender cutting day. Our lavender plants were over taking our front steps and walkway so I took out the scissors and gave it a trim. It was early and when I started there were no bees collecting pollen. By the time I finished, they were happily buzzing all around me.

The are really big dark bees with fuzzy yellow spots on them.


They don't stay still very long but I was able to get a few photos.


This one was more fuzzy yellow than the rest but just as busy and fast.

The Handbook of Nature Study, pages 389-391
"The bumblebees are the chief pollen carriers for most of our wild flowers as well as for the clovers and other farm plants. They should, therefore, be kindly treated everywhere; and we should be careful not to hurt the big queen bumblebee, which we see often in May."
The HNS on page 391 under observations (number 2) says to catch a bumblebee in a jar to observe it. I may try this. This was a perfect supplement to our study of pollinators.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom