Buzz, buzz, buzz

Have you ever seen a bee buzzing around your flowers with his legs loaded with balls of pollen so large he could barely make it in to the air? I have, on more than one occasion,  seen these little fuzzy fliers so full that when they began to buzz, they actually had to walk of the edge of the pedal to find the open air. It was like witnessing an overloaded bomber going off the end of an aircraft carrier - losing altitude and then finally picking up the nose, and rising slowly toward its objective. 

But bees don't have cargo bays. They have legs, and they use them to great advantage. Each leg carries a golden nugget of pollen gathered from dozens of flowers. What I never could figure out though is how the pollen got there. Every bee I have seen dives head first in to the center of the flower; looking more for nectar than pollen, it would seem. Today I learned their secret method. I was watching them sample the treats of our Rose of Sharon tree. It's a great tree. It blooms throughout the summer, and there is never a shortage of blossoms, or bees. I watched for quite a while and finally I saw one emerge from the center of one of the flowers, and he was covered in pollen. It was all over him. He looked like he'd been rolling in cornmeal. He took off again but this time he lit on a green leaf. Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera, but I took this picture later to give you an idea of the flower. As he sat there on the leaf he began cleaning himself. His front legs swept over his head and parts of his wings. Then his back legs swept over his abdomen and thorax, and soon he had gathered two pouches - about the size of the head of a pin.  Then he repeated the process and his saddle bags grew ever so slightly. He finish by scraping his front legs off on his rear legs, a little lick with his little bee tongue, a swipe at the antennae (for better reception), and he was off to gather more. I was amazed at the efficiency.

I have been hearing a lot of worried folk about the condition of the bee population world wide. I don't know about the rest of the world, but we have lots here - and many different types too. I don't know what kind they are, but I would like to. If there are any bee experts out there and they'd like to share their knowledge on this subject, I, for one, would bee grateful.