As I was about to start my visit at the Norfolk Botanical Garden today, I discovered a bumble bee.
This bumble bee was hovering near some shrubs at the top of the steps leading down from the visitor center. He stood out, partly because of his size and partly because of his shiny butt. He would hover a couple of seconds, move slightly, hover again, zoom away, and come back. A couple of times another bee swooped in and they had a little buzz fight, which usually meant dive-bombing past me where I sat trying to take the perfect photograph.
I’ve learned that bumble bees are very hard to photograph. I think I did okay for my first try, though. The bee was 10-15 feet away when I took these.
Mr. Bee was still hovering in the area when I returned to the center, 2 1/2 hours later.