My Digital Photography of

Bumblebees and Carpenter Bees

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Bumblebees and carpenter bees are one of my favorite insects to photograph.  Many people do not realize the difference between carpenter bees and bumblebees.  It is easy to tell if you just look at their abdomens---the carpenter bee has a naked black abdomen and the bumblebee has strips of yellow fuzz.  However, they are both especially difficult to photograph because they move from flower to flower so quickly.  By the time I focus the lens and frame the image, the bee has moved on to the next flower.  My favorites are the bees captured in mid-air.

bumblebee midair by sweetpea.jpg (73491 bytes)  Bumblebees (2003)

  Carpenter bee (2008)

 

 

Bumblebees

Wetzel State Park, June 3, 2018

Bumblebee in my backyard on August 12, 2016

The first bumblebee I've seen in my yard.  I just happened to be looking out the doorwall when it landed on a leaf of my ash tree.  The first two are non-macro.  Since it was still resting there after those photos, I went back in and assembled the macro equipment and took the others.

 

   

 

 

Bumblebees at Point Mouillee on July 26, 2014

I was so excited---I saw 3 bumblebees today!!!  I haven't seen a bumblebee in 7 years.  I thought they had become extinct in MI.

     

     

     

   

   

Bumblebee inside columbine flower 5-26-07

 

 

 

Carpenter Bees

Raymond Goodrich Preserve, September 8, 2018

Mating.

   

 

 

My backyard, August 15, 2013

     

 

Henry Ford Estate on July 14, 2009

     

       

       

       

     

   

     

 

August 8, 2008

This poor bee is almost dead in these photos.  Darwin had just gone outside and didn't make it to the grass to urinate.  Instead, he left a puddle on the driveway that this bee must have thought was water.  I took it out and tried to revive it with regular water, but it was too late to be saved.  I figured I couldn't let it die for nothing, so I took some photographs of it.

     

     

     

     

 

My parents' house, August 23, 2008

   

     

       

       

 

Carpenter bees gathering pollen and flying 8-4-08

   

   

 

Carpenter bees on butterfly bushes 9-4-06

bee 9-4-06 with fly.jpg (141787 bytes)  bee 9-4-06 with fly best focus.jpg (142398 bytes)  bee 9-4-06 closeup side view whole body 2.jpg (148489 bytes)  bee 9-4-06 closeup side view whole body.jpg (134629 bytes)

bee 9-4-06 closeup at bottom 2.jpg (108385 bytes)  bee 9-4-06 top view closeup.jpg (132784 bytes)  bee 9-4-06 closeup at bottom.jpg (108756 bytes)  bee 9-4-06 closeup pollen all over adj.jpg (125293 bytes)

fuzzy bee 9-4-06.jpg (136857 bytes)  bee 9-4-06 top view.jpg (124553 bytes)  fuzzy bee 9-4-06 leg out.jpg (143000 bytes)

bee 9-4-06 ball flower 2.jpg (146067 bytes)  bee 9-4-06 closeup at bottom 3.jpg (129098 bytes)  bee 9-4-06 with fly best focus cropped.jpg (149041 bytes)  bee 9-4-06 ball flower.jpg (138656 bytes)

bee 9-4-06 closeup side view.jpg (152594 bytes)  bee 9-4-06 hovering purple bkg.jpg (123945 bytes)  bee 9-4-06 hovering.jpg (115598 bytes)  bees 9-4-06.jpg (110620 bytes)

 

Carpenter bees on butterfly bushes 8-25-06

bumblebee 8-25-06 buried in flowers.jpg (126299 bytes)  bumblebee 8-25-06 closeup.jpg (123376 bytes)  bumblebee 8-25-06 head in focus.jpg (149350 bytes)

bumblebee 8-25-06 dark 2.jpg (115101 bytes)  bumblebee 8-25-06 rounded appearance reverse 2.jpg (133989 bytes)  bumblebee 8-25-06 rounded appearance reverse 3.jpg (143024 bytes)  bumblebee 8-25-06 dark.jpg (124815 bytes)

bumblebee 8-25-06 dried flowers.jpg (148868 bytes)  bumblebee 8-25-06 head closeup.jpg (114289 bytes)  bumblebee 8-25-06 rounded appearance reverse.jpg (134005 bytes)  

bumblebee 8-25-06 wing in focus 2.jpg (142355 bytes)  bumblebee 8-25-06 sky bkg.jpg (111193 bytes)  bumblebee 8-25-06 top view.jpg (128651 bytes)  bumblebee 8-25-06 wing in focus.jpg (138612 bytes)

  

Carpenter bee on trumpet-vine flower 8-11-06

bumblebee 8-11-06.jpg (121172 bytes)

 

 

Old Photos of Both Types of Bees

Mid-air Shots of Bumblebees and Carpenter Bees, Summer 2003

The first two shots are bumblebees and the others are carpenter bees.

bumblebee midair by sweetpea.jpg (73491 bytes)  wings flapping.jpg (65046 bytes)

bumblebee pair one flying into thistle cropped.jpg (136041 bytes)  midair bee into thistle cropped.jpg (116467 bytes)  bumblebee flying into sunflower right.jpg (76977 bytes)  bumblebee flying from sunflower.jpg (80380 bytes)

   

Carpenter bees on flowering thistle, sunflowers, raspberries and butterfly bushes.  Summer 2003

  bumblebee pair on thistle cropped.jpg (121221 bytes)  bumblebee on thistle.jpg (119720 bytes)  bumblebee on thistle 2.jpg (123852 bytes)

upside down bee on thistle.jpg (125925 bytes)  bumblebee on halfsunflower spread wings flash.jpg (81714 bytes)  bumblebee under raspberry.jpg (81724 bytes)

bumblebee on butterfly bush 10-2-05.jpg (103262 bytes)  gold bumblebee through window.jpg (82013 bytes)  bumblebee through window spread wings.jpg (91162 bytes)  bumblebee through window good head detail.jpg (80429 bytes)

old battered bumblebee.jpg (74946 bytes)  bumblebee on oregano cropped.jpg (87175 bytes)  bumblebee on oregano 2.jpg (67604 bytes)  bumblebee super closeup flash.jpg (89143 bytes)

 

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