MY MORNING WALK WITH GREEN BEES, ANTS, DAMSELFLIES, HONEYBEES AND BUGS I DON'T KNOW

All the elements of exquisite beauty are present. There are 
mesmerizing shapes, colors, texture and such interesting main characters. 

Ant

Honey bee collecting nectar

I googled to figure out what kind of insect I'd photographed below. It had a sparkly green body that made it look a bit like a honey bee dressed in drag. I think they're called sweat bees, named for their habit of landing on people and licking the perspiration from the skin in order to obtain the salt.

A 'sweat bee' - Agapostemon texanus, Colorado on June 3. 2011

"This family of bees engages in a behavior called sonication, or buzz pollination. The bee places the anther in its jaw and vibrates each flower with its flight muscles, causing pollen to be dislodged. Wild blueberry (Vaccinium spp.) crops are more effectively pollinated through buzz pollination, and sweat bees do pollinate this plant."
source: http://www.nbii.gov

A 'sweat bee' - Agapostemon texanus, Colorado on June 3. 2011

"These bees visit between four and eight flowers per minute and carry significant pollen loads on their hind legs. Additionally, sweat bees are generalist feeders - they feed on, and subsequently pollinate, many different flower types. These behaviors and adaptations make sweat bees efficient pollinators." source: http://www.nbii.gov

This little light blue fly-bug pictured above 
(need to find out what it is) 
was about the size of a mosquito.

Damselfly June 3, 2011

Damselfly - June 3, 2011

Honeybee

I added some photos to this blog from other walks. All my photography is for sale as framed and matted prints. Please contact me for details. Custom orders are a pleasure. Email me: betsy at livehonestly dot com.