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LinkedInPosts Tagged: lupine
Breeze Blasts Bombus at Bodega Bay
Bodega Bay dawned cold and windy on Sunday, April 24. Windy? 27 mph! We didn't think we'd see a single bumble bee foraging on the blooming ice plants, poppies, wild radishes, or lupines, but there it was, a black-tailed bumble bee, Bombus melanopygus, nectaring on a yellow lupine near...
No wind today! A black-tailed bumble bee, Bombus melanopygus, foraging on lavender in Vacaville, Calif., on May 16, 2017. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Flight of the Bumble Bee
Early scientists figured it was aerodynamically impossible for bumble bees to fly due to their size, weight and shape of their bodies in relation to their total wingspan. And then there were those air resistance issues. “Antoine Magnan, a French zoologist, in 1934 made some very...
Packing red pollen from lupine, Lupinus arboreus, a yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, heads toward more blossoms at Doran Regional Park, Bodega Bay. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Scientists used to think that the flight of the bumble bee was aerodynamically impossible. But nobody told the bumble bee it couldn't fly! (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The end? A yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, heads back to her colony. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Learning About Native Bees with The Experts
Oh, what a treasure to bee-hold! If you've ever visited UC Berkeley's Hastings Natural History Reserve in the upper Carmel Valley, Monterey County, and admired the yellow-faced bumble bees and other native bees foraging on vetch and lupine in the meadows, that's a scene you'll never forget. But...
A yellow-faced bumble bee nectaring on vetch in May 2015 at Hastings Natural History Reserve. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, heads for vetch at the Hastings Natural History Reserve. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
This yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenkii, is a whirl of anticipation as it nears lupine at the Hastings Natural History Reserve. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Blue sky, vetch, a yellow-faced bumbe bee and all's right with the world. This photo was taken in May 2015 at the Hastings Natural History Reserve. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Loving the Lupine
It's a given: Honey bees love lupine. We watched them buzzing around a flower patch of blue (lupine) and gold (California poppies) today along Hopkins Road, University of California, Davis, west of the central campus. Those are Aggie colors: blue and gold. And those are Aggie bees, from the...
A honey bee heads for lupine. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Honey bee with a huge pollen load. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Saddlebags? No, a heavy load of pollen. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Wild Blue Yonder
Sometimes you see honey bees "making a beeline." Such was the case when this honey bee (below) encountered a native wildflower, blue lupine (Lupinus). Lupines are known more as pollen plants than nectar plants, according to Frank Pellett's book, American Honey Plants, a Dadant...
Honey bee heading for blue lupine. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Honey bee touches down on "the landing strip" of a blue lupine. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Honey bee, wings a soft blur, makes a beeline for a lupine. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
