My bees are busy collecting nectar and pollen from the spring blossom. They are very quick and difficult to capture decent in-flight photos. These are the best I have been able to get so far :-)
I will keep trying but there does seem to be a lot of luck involved.
Looks like a hoverfly getting in on the act as well.
Bees out and about
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There is an interesting paper on this at
http://jeb.biologists.org/content/206/11/1855.long
which suggests that although the load is usually 20-35% of body mass, and may be up to 85% of body mass, the effect on wing beat frequency, wing angle and body angle is minimal. There is an increase in metabolic rate which is greater in pollen foragers than in nectar foragers but the changes to actual flight dynamics are remarkably small. Reading the paper this investigation took some serious kit so I don't think I will be trying to replicate their study!
http://jeb.biologists.org/content/206/11/1855.long
which suggests that although the load is usually 20-35% of body mass, and may be up to 85% of body mass, the effect on wing beat frequency, wing angle and body angle is minimal. There is an increase in metabolic rate which is greater in pollen foragers than in nectar foragers but the changes to actual flight dynamics are remarkably small. Reading the paper this investigation took some serious kit so I don't think I will be trying to replicate their study!
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- Location: Atlanta, GA, USA