Images

Collected on the Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba, photographed by AamanCanon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Photographer: Sam Droege, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200

Collected on the Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba, photographed by AamanCanon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Photographer: Sam Droege, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200

Beltsville, Maryland Honey bee wing, Apis mellifera

Queen Bee photo spread. Collected by Tim McMahon from a colony in Talbot County, while slightly gummy as Honeybees are want to be, this series shows the longer abdomen, the odd curly dark hairs on top of the head and the broad hind tibia, but lacking the hairs and pollen basket that the workers have.

Apis mellifera, honey bee, pupae in the purple eye phase. Specimens provided by Krisztina Christmon from University of Maryland. Photography Information: Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Stackshot Sled, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash in Styrofoam Cooler, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200.

Dead Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Archilochus colubris, after striking a building in the fall of 2012 in Washington D.C. Collected by Lights out DC

Black Chokeberry. Yummy bee plant and yummy (though slightly bitter) berry full of antioxidants. Sadly this seems to be a target of deer munching, but its available for planting in your yard and guaranteed to be a good plant in the spring and supply some breakfast berries for your cereal.

Asarum canadense - Wild Ginger. The deep purple/maroon on this bulky little flower tells you that it aims to attract beetles and flies rather than bees. Check out the fine textures to the flower body. To what evolutionary end to the small projects and long white hairs make? Picture and specimen by Helen Lowe Metzman.

Eucerinoda gayi, Gay 's EucerineClaude Gay was a French entomologist who in the early 1800 's traveled to Chile to teach. However natural history was his passion and he spent most of his time in the country studying the plants, animals, and geology.

Eucerinoda gayi, Gay 's EucerineClaude Gay was a French entomologist who in the early 1800 's traveled to Chile to teach. However natural history was his passion and he spent most of his time in the country studying the plants, animals, and geology.

Osiris, Atlatl Godbee, Collected in ColombiaThe ancient Egyptian God Osiris was associated with both the afterlife and a greenish skin, and at least indirectly with Honey Bees.

More unknown species of bees from the Packer Lab at York University. Here collected in Brazil. Photography Information: Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Stackshot Sled, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash in Styrofoam Cooler, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200.

Pachyanthidium species, Sawtooth Sputnik Bee, collected in KenyaAnother striking Sputnik Bee from Africa. This group of bees, and the Anthidiini tribe it nestles in taxonomically, are almost all characteristically striped and spotted with bright yellow, white, and red colors on a wide body, usually also with serious amounts of pitting cratering their exoskeleton.

Perilla frutescens, or Beefsteak Plant, a much hated invasive plant, but does have the virtue of both being edible and having lovely remnant seeds pods even after a long winter. Upper Marlboro, Maryland.

Lighting Experiment: Agroiconota bivittata - Another tortoise beetle, this one from a glycol trap collected by Brooke Alexander and photographed by Amber Reese, in this case the trick was to increase the lighting on the lower edge, what worked was laying a portion of styrofoam cup slit lengthwise ala butternut squash which nicely reflect the bounced flash back up o

Clerid Beetle, Enoclerus ichneumoneus, Prince George's County, Maryland

Yet another Tortoise Beetle, in this case one with a common name, the Mottled Tortoise Beetle, Deloyala guttata, a feeder on Morning Glory vines, in this case likely a feeder on Sweet Potato Vines (which are nothing but morning glory roots) collected by Brooke Alexander and picture taken by Amber Reese

A deep dimensional ethereal midnight blue, this picture only partially portraits the subtle beauty of this beetle captured on a flower during our study of pollinator webs in the Badlands

Experimental shot - Here is a beetle from by-catch from Badlands National Park. The beetle is placed on a piece of glass and stack shot using our usual set up but with black felt on the rear of the glass to minimize the gray color that seems to come from light refracting in the glass behind the specimen.

Periodically, I take pictures of things other than bees that cross my path. Here, is a small beetle, collected a few weeks ago at Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge. Its very small, taken at 10X and that's about all I can tell you other than it likely was collected on flowers along with bees.

This is a tachinid fly in the genus Belvosia. I caught while bee hunting and used it in this particular picture to test out a new 10X picture rig I have set up at home. Nice enough, but think I need to play around with the lighting to extract a little more contrast and 3 dimensionality.