Blue Banded Bee
Blue Banded Bee asleep gripping a dead twig of the star jasmine on the fence. Under cover from the rain.
*Click on the pictures for a proper look … and click again
A female, by the four bands, not five, about two metres from the mud brick house cast for her early in the year.
And on the other side of the house – two youngsters in tandem on a flower stem, under the moon. No blue bands yet …
Flash disturbed the one behind, who began to buzz and struggle, as if agitated dreaming. So I backed off …
With all the rain and wind the past couple weeks these little creatures are struggling. But not suffering emotionally, they don’t do that.
They are cognisant of the effort and the hunger, are it, but not a single thought is wasted on it. And it can’t be changed.
The sun will shine again … the flowers will bloom … mud brick homes are available.
Everything changes in time …
© Mark Berkery ……. Click on those pictures for a closer look
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Nature's Place 
Wonderful photography Mark .. thanks for sharing!
Thanks Janne.
They are my favourite in my garden. I wish my pics were as good as yours though Mark!
BBB nests will be in place before Spring. I can’t get enough of the little treasures in nature that we are blessed with.
Keep the pics coming please!
They are a character in the garden, the way they buzz about with some familiarity, always getting out of the way.
I find mine while they sleep, which accounts for the closeness and clarity, not hard to do.
Thanks Jennifer.
Beautiful creatures. Can we ever really know or prove what another creature feels, particularly one unable to communicate with us? Research described at https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/i-ll-bee-there-for-you-do-insects-feel-emotions/ suggests that bumble bees might possibly have some form of emotions.
These little creatures are communicating all the time in my garden. ‘Buzz, buzz, here I come. Hmmm, delicious nectar. Watch out …’ Zipping around the landscape, the flurry of aerobatics when one approaches another. The sheer delight of such spontaneous mastery of the low altitudes. But nothing to think or get emotional about.
I think everything has emotion to some degree, the degree to which they are required to respond to stimuli. But they don’t reflect or ruminate on emotion like people do, and so make an unhappy mess of their lives. They live their emotion, are their emotion, spontaneous instinctive creatures in action – unless ‘man’ gets his grubby (selfish) fingers on them and makes them into something they are not, as can be observed in the misery of ill treated dogs for instance, or other ‘captive’ animals.
We can ‘know’ it by observing it and leaving doubt as thinking out. It is our own nature after all.
How sweet to see the youngsters and learn a little about the visible stages of their lives, Mark — beauty and science!
Just observation and google Cate. I have no retention for ‘science’ stuff.
Brilliant, as I’ve come to expect!
Thanks Mac …
I love this one. I love all your photographs actually, but this one is the first I’ve seen that doesn’t make me squeamish as I admire the beauty you’ve captured.
We do have a soft spot for bees I think.
Never get sick of looking at these little beauties :) They’re a delight.
I didn’t know the juveniles took time to develop their blue bands.
I’m just guessing, but it makes sense that they would mature somewhat after leaving the nest.
Thanks for your excellent photography and your commentary.
Thanks Connie.