Dear All
Greetings from Western Kenya and many thanks to Rebecca and Dana for the kind comments. I feel very honoured that there are people out there who read this blog and care about the little creatures of the world! Just back from the Nandi Hills, and was in the Kerio Valley and West Pokot before that (more on that amazing trip soon).
Here are some pictures of honeybees and other insects visiting flowers at the edge of the forest in the Nandi Hills.
The honeybees were busy frantically gathering pollen and nectar from virtually every flower in sight. There has been some more rain in Western Kenya and it is good to see the bees and flowers are happy and healthy after the long drought!
There were also a few butterflies around, including this lovely orange Acraea visiting the flowers. Despite it’s fragile appearance, this butterfly is rarely bothered by predators thanks to its toxic nature advertised with the bright warning colours!
I also found some tiny bees sitting inside the hearts of the Thunbergia flowers – (also called Black-eyed Susans) – they seemed to spend most of their time day-dreaming inside the flower, unlike the honeybees who were working tirelessly. I guess that if you are a bee needing a nap, the inside of a flower is the perfect place to take one!
More from the world of bugs soon!
‘Yo, dino.
Will you come back at night and check whether there’s a leopard hiding behind the flowers?
Cheers,
_
Is there nectar inside the black-eyed susan’s?
I enjoying reading your blog – always learn something and I can never get enough of your photos!
Great photos
Is that first one a native bee or is it the European bee? Looks the same as the introduced one we have here.
Hi Dana, Rebecca and Oded! The honeybees in the pictures are the same as the European ones – in fact the same species, but different subspecies/varieties. The honeybee in fact originates in East Africa, and then spread around the world.
Black-eyed susan – yes – there is nectar inside the flowers…