Monday, April 16, 2012
Perserverance
Over the past few days, the weather has been marvelously abnormal. Wind, rain, hail, snow. Delightful. It's still sweet pea season around here; so regular harvesting of the blossoms is necessary to try to encourage more blossoms to develop. I was out collecting a bouquet for a work associate's birthday and thought that one of the stems cut was too old. It had yellowed from its vibrant purple. I was just about ready to put it in my pocket for later disposal in the composter when I noticed that the yellow wasn't part of the flower. It was a yellow bumble bee. I don't think I've ever seen a yellow one before. Typically, they are completely black around here.
Yeowee! This guy was very alive and had been stunned by the quick drop in temperature I guess. I gingerly placed the stem down amongst the vines. The guy didn't move for about 3 days until the weather heated up and he moved on. Glad I didn't heat him up in my pocket.
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6 comments:
I have never seen a yellow bumble bee before. Our bumbles are black.
I haven't seen this either.
This bee is so unusual, I looked online and found this:
The Valley carpenter bee, Xylocopa varipuncta, is one of three species of carpenter bee found in Southern California and north through the Central Valley. Females are a metallic black while males are fuzzy and gold with green eyes. They are the largest bees found in California.
So I think it's pretty likely that your "bumble bee" is a male Valley carpenter bee. I think he's really cute.
It's been similar weather over in Southern England. Funnily enough, today I just bought my sweet pea plants, about three inches high, to start off in the garden!
Hi Maybelline. That is an unusual colored Bumblebee. I am glad he did not go into your pocket. Ouch. He may have been to cold to sting though.
Hey everyone. See the next post to read what I've learned about this not-so-unusual bee.
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