We spent several hours observing bees during this unit (both in the mountains and closer to home), and taking pictures when possible. Some of the pictures were taken by me and some by the children. It is hard to hold the camera still enough! But we were happy to have these pictures because we could then come home and look at the bees more closely, and identify different species and different features on the bees.
We also printed out several of these bee identification cards to take with us on our field trips for reference.
What amazed me most was just how many bees we noticed, once we were looking for them. And how often we could see even very small details, like full pollen baskets or an extended proboscis. I guess you really can see more when you know what to look for (and when you are actually looking)!
Bees sharing a coneflower
Bulging pollen basket (by the arrow)
I like this bumblebee's orange fur
You can see the dusting of pollen all over this bee's front legs
More very full pollen baskets!
Another strikingly-colored bumblebee
You can see the bee sipping through her proboscis here
Also here
This is an interestingly-colored wasp---the stripes are almost blue or green
And while we were out, we couldn't help but notice some other pollinators. These beautiful butterflies are hard workers too!
This shiny blue one is my favorite!
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