Jim Fowler

Jim Fowler deceased

Posted: 09 Oct 2013


Taken: 08 Oct 2013

0 favorites     0 comments    139 visits

1/250 f/9.0 148.0 mm ISO 100

OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. E-5

SIGMA 105mm F2.8 MACRO

EXIF - See more details

See also...


Keywords

insects
Bombus species
Graveyard Fields
Nodding Ladies'-tresses orchid
Olympus 1.4X Teleconverter
JIM FOWLER
Spiranthes cernua
E-5
Transylvania County
Sigma 105mm
Bumble bee
North Carolina
Olympus
105mm
wildflowers
orchids
Orchid Pollination


Authorizations, license

Visible by: Everyone
All rights reserved

139 visits


Backing out -- Bombus species (Bumble Bee) pollinating Spiranthes cernua (Nodding Ladies'-tresses orchid)

Backing out -- Bombus species (Bumble Bee) pollinating Spiranthes cernua (Nodding Ladies'-tresses orchid)
A day trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina. I was lucky enough to find a nice bed of Spiranthes cernua beside the road. So, I stopped to photograph it and was soon joined by a Bee and a Butterfly. What a great day...

This Bumble Bee already has a load of pollinia on its proboscis before entering the orchid flower.

Once it backed out, I could tell that the load of pollinia irritated the bee, because it immediately flew to the ground where it used its front legs to furiously brush off the pollinia. Then, it flew right back onto the inflorescence where it soon became loaded with more pollinia. Neat thing to witness...

Comments

Sign-in to write a comment.