Black and White Warbler at Magee Marsh...photos, sketch, and a painting

A female Black and White Warbler (Mniotilta varia) was very thorough in her inspection of this weathered and half-dead tree. She systematically nabbed insects right and left from the nooks, crannies, and crevices of the bark (and I don't think she left any bits of the lichen unturned either :-)...

This beautiful female Black and White warbler foraged for several minutes right in front of me,
letting me marvel at her beauty and industriousness. (These photos go all the way back to May of this year when I was at the Biggest Week in American Birding.)

This post is for my parents, Joni and Jer, my cousin, Curg, and my Aunt Diane. They all traveled up to Maumee Bay State Park this weekend to look for ducks up on Lake Erie. Everyone was in need of Big Water, and Lake Erie, which is only 4 hours away, was the cure. I was supposed to go with them, but work got in the way. Magee Marsh is only 20 minutes from Maumee, so I told them to be sure to stop by the boardwalk. They did...on Nov 5, but it was closed for duck hunting (Nov 5 - Dec 1). So they didn't get to see the beauty of the boardwalk, but I'm going to lure them back up this May when all the warblers are there. That's the best time to go anyway, so I thought I'd post a small taste of what's to come this spring for them! I saw this Black and White Warbler on the boardwalk at Magee Marsh on May 5, 2012. She was just one of hundreds of warblers flitting through the trees that morning...

It was slightly overcast that morning, but the gray light only helped emphasize her beauty!

The wet bark on the trees and the overcast skies above showcased the bright green of the lichens.

...no crevice, hole or crack escapes this little female's attention! 

Always nuthatch-like in their movements, Black and White Warblers can crawl up and down and around on a tree...

You can tell this is a female because she has a gray cheek. Males have black cheeks.

...sketches of the Black and White warbler I photographed that day. 
I drew this page in my sketchbook that evening from photos I took that day.

...a quick watercolor sketch of the female Black and White Warbler 
(painted from one of the sketchbook drawings).

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Painting and drawing Savannah Sparrows...and our first Dark-eyed Junco of winter!

I painted these Savannah Sparrows last week for a guest post I did on the Birding is Fun blog. As a reference, I used sketches of the bird I drew from an outing in early spring. Since our summer sparrows are leaving us for their winter grounds, I thought it a great way to say good bye to them. Sparrows are always fun to watch. They are sweet, and their subtle shades of browns, grays, and caramels are restful to the eye and make them interesting to paint...

...a sweet Savannah Sparrow in an early spring meadow (watercolor).

Sparrows go about their business without flash. They flit through the grasses and make us work to see and identify them. This little Savannah Sparrow, however, was making it easy. He was singing heartily, perched on a tall and dried-out reedy stem of grass left over from winter. I saw this bird on March 24, 2012 at Armleder Park in Cincinnati, OH. The bird was one of a pair that took turns diving down to the ground, then fluttering back up to a perch. In the same field, two Vesper Sparrows were doing the same thing, although they were much more secretive and tended to stay a little lower in the weeds (click here for that post). Both species were returning migrants, and it was wonderful to welcome them back for the season...

...same Savannah Sparrow trying his best to fade away in a field of dead stalks and grasses (watercolor).

Pencil sketch of the Savannah Sparrow at Armleder Park (March 24, 2012)

Pencil sketch of the same Savannah Sparrow at Armleder. 

...and already it's time to say goodbye to these sweet summer sparrows, as winter sparrows have already arrived in Cincinnati. I've read reports of White-crowned Sparrows and White-throated Sparrows, but so far, none have shown up in our yard. It seems Pine Siskins are making appearances in Cincy too! I hope a few drop by our feeders. We do have a new visitor, however—our first Dark-eyed Junco of winter flashed his white tail feathers this past Saturday on October 27, 2012. Last year our first junco blew in on November 8, 2012 (click here for that post and watercolors of the junco), so we're ahead of the game!

Sketchbook entry of our first Dark-eyed Junco of the season (10-27-2012)

Armleder Park is on the east side of Cincinnati in Hamilton County and is a great place to bird. It's about 30 minutes from my house, so I don't get there as often as I'd like. A small paved trail loops through a weedy meadow, and you have canoe access to the Little Miami River as well (305 acres).

Immature Little Blue Herons, photos, sketches, and a watercolor

Once a month, I'm a contributor on the Birding is Fun blog. I often forget to publish those posts on Red and the Peanut, so I'm going to try to add them in every now and then. Here's a post from way back in July:

Little Little Blues are white...
Early this June, Matty, Rick and I went to Hilton Head, SC for our vacation. I visited the nearby Pinckney Island NWP every day to watch the birds nesting at the Ibis Pond rookery. The Little Blue Herons were especially active this year, and the deep slate-colored adults could be seen sitting on nests, preening while they perched at the end of branches, flying overhead with long twigs destined for other nests, or just fluffing up to transform themselves into ridiculously attractive birds, but it was their snowy white offspring that I really paid attention to. The white-feathered young Little Blue Herons were busy flapping their wings, hopping from branch to branch, and waiting and begging for food...

Two young Little Blue Herons stretch and flap their wings from branches near their nest. They were not yet airborne, still gaining strength for their first flights. Here they were watching an adult that had just landed a few branches over, no doubt hoping for food!

Little Blue Herons have white plumage while they are young and retain the white color for their first year. They often nest with Snowy Egrets, but it's not too hard to tell the two white birds apart. Look at their legs, Little Blue Heron babies have greenish legs and feet. They also have dark blue-gray tipped wing feathers. It's often hard to see the dark-tipped feathers when the birds are at rest, but when they stretch, it's easy to spot the dark tips on the wing feathers.

...with the wings folded it's a little harder to see the dark-tipped wing feathers on a young Little Blue Heron, but if you look closely at the farthest end of the wing, you can see the dark tips among all the white.

The nice thing about a rookery, is the birds stay put for you! All this posing and sticking near the nest makes it easy to sketch and draw them. At Ibis Pond on Pinckney Island I love to sit down, set up the scope, and get out the sketchbook. Here are a few quick sketches of the two babies...

...pencil sketches of immature Little Blue Herons

Immature Little Blue Heron (watercolor heightened with black and white conte crayon).
...painted this from a sketchbook drawing earlier this summer.

...and here's papa fluffing up in all his blue grandeur!
(I took this photo last year at Pinckney, but it's one of my favorite fluffing-up shots.)

II have lots and lots of Hilton Head birds sitting in the archives patiently waiting to get out. I need to hunker down, focus and bring those photos to life! (...I still have lots of cool birds, insects, turtles and snakes to write about from Magee Marsh in Toledo, Shawnee State Park in Ohio, and Greenbo Lake in Kentucky too...I'll never get caught up!)

Surprise! A baby Black Rat Snake in the house...

A week or so ago, Rick went into the downstairs bathroom and jumped when he almost stepped on a plastic snake. "That Kelly and Matty," he said to himself, immediately assuming we put the snake there to scare him, but when he went to pick it up, it moved! Then he really jumped! It is strange to find a snake in your house, and if you're not used to them, it can be a bit unnerving. When Rick yelled up that there was a snake in his office (it had quickly slithered out of the bathroom and into his office), and could I please come down and get it, I was excited. "REALLY?" I yelled down to him. We've never had a snake in our house before, and I couldn't wait to find out what kind it was. I was happy to see it was a very sweet and cooperative young Black Rat Snake (Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta). Funny thing about Black Rat Snakes, when they are young, they aren't black. They are grey with black designs called "saddles" on their backs and splotches on their sides...

This is the baby Black Rat Snake Rick found in our downstairs bathroom. He looks nothing like he will as an adult when his dorsal coloring will be mostly black (although the pattern still exists, it's just hard to see), and his ventral coloring will be white. As a baby, he has a gray background with dark saddles on top and splotches on the side. This baby was very docile. he didn't try to strike, and he didn't musk either. I held him loosely and he was content to climb from one hand to the next. (Rick took this photo with his iPhone, and the snake was constantly moving!)

Our little encounter with the baby Black Rat Snake reminded me that last year I photographed "Steve," the famous adult Black Rat Snake from Shawnee State Park's nature center, but I never got around to posting the photos...

Rostral groove
Steve was very cooperative. When I would lay on the ground with my camera, Steve would crawl toward me, which let me focus the lens on his face. I wanted to capture the "rostral groove," which is the small notch in a snake's upper lip. Snakes flick their tongues in and out of their mouths through this groove without ever having to open their mouths...

Steve, an adult Black Rat Snake, flicks his tongue in and out of his mouth through the rostral groove.  

Jacobson's Organ
Once the tongue is pulled back into the snake's mouth, it is retracted into a protective sheath. A snake's tongue is vital to its survival because it functions as a sense organ of smell allowing the snake to seek out and find prey, so it's only natural it would be protected this way. When the tongue is flicked out, chemical particles in the air (scent molecules) adhere to the moisture on the tongue. Once retracted into the sheath, the forked tips of the tongue remain exposed and settle into two pockets in the roof of the mouth called the "Jacobson's Organ." Here the scent molecules are transferred to receptors in the nerve-laden lining of the Jacobson's Organ where they are interpreted and then relayed as messages to the brain. All this sounds time consuming, but just like when we touch something hot, the brain recognizes the stimuli almost instantly.  If the tongue or any part of the Jacobson's organ is damaged, it's difficult for the snake to survive. (For a detailed explanation of this process, click here and here.) In a way, the snake's tongue works in stereo. If more chemical particles are on the right fork, the snake turns right, etc.

Pencil sketch of Steve, the Black Rat Snake, with the rostral groove labeled.

Pencil sketch of the inside of an Eastern Hognose snake's mouth with Jacobson's organ labeled. I loved seeing the gaping maul of this snake. It's the only time I've been able to photograph the inside of a snake's mouth and actually see the tongue's protective sheath and the pockets for the Jacobson's Organ (where the forked tongue rests when retracted). 

Steve, the Black Rat Snake, crawling on the ground. Black Rat Snakes love woods, and they love to climb in trees. They are also big. I'm posting this photo just for Joni, my mom, who's not keen on snakes. "Hey, mom! Remember that huge Black Rat snake that came our way when I was about two years old?" I don't remember the snake. I've only been told stories, but I imagine he looked something like this!

This photo helps demonstrate how big Black Rat Snakes can get. They are the largest snakes in Ohio and can reach six-eight feet in length.  Again, this is Steve. He is being held by a young snake lover. To further drive the point home, the boy's twin is holding the other half of the snake. I never measured Steve, but he was at least six feet (if not more). 

A partial pencil sketch of Steve, the Black Rat Snake. Steve was old. Over the years, he has  converted more "snake-a-phobes" (ophidiophobics) to "snake-a-philes" than any other snake at the nature center. This summer was sad, because Steve was no longer there. He died of a tumor this winter. He lived a very long life, and had an impact on many humans. Children (and adults) would walk into the nature center petrified of snakes, but after seeing and holding Steve, they fell in love with him and many were no longer afraid. Lots of kids (and adults) lamented Steve's death this summer when Matty and I were there for our week of volunteering.

p.s. Does that snake have cataracts?
I thought I'd pop this tidbit in quickly since a few of the photos show the snake's "blue" eyes. Last year when Matty and I were there, Steve's eyes turned cloudy and blue, and many of the visitors at the nature center asked me if the snake had cataracts. It looks like he does, but really its just a sign the snake is about to shed its skin. Snakes don't have eyelids. They have special scales called eye caps. These eye caps are shed along with the skin.



Baby Black Rat Snake (Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta) from Kelly Riccetti on Vimeo.
A quick video Rick took of our little Black Rat Snake while I released him in the backyard.

Painting and drawing Bay-breasted Warblers at Magee Marsh...

I always look forward to seeing Bay-breasted Warblers as they migrate through our area in May. Their beautiful chestnut-colored flanks and black mask are striking, and they are not quite as hyper as other warblers as they move through the branches gleaning insects, so I usually get wonderful views of them. Problem is they are few and far between around my house, so when I headed up to Magee Marsh this May for The Biggest Week in American Birding warbler festival, I had my fingers crossed that a few would head my way...

A Bay-breasted Warbler (Dendroica castenea) perched in a tree just above me along the boardwalk at Magee Marsh. 

...field sketches of the Bay-breasted Warblers I saw while at Magee Marsh in Toledo, Ohio.

...more field sketches of Bay-breasted Warblers from the boardwalk.

Last Sunday I went back through my sketchbook looking for a few sketches to paint. I liked a few of the Bay-breasted Warbler drawings, so I grabbed my watercolors and headed outside on the deck. Matty had mentioned earlier that he liked the two sketches of the bird looking up, so I made sure I painted them. It was gorgeous outside--warm but not too hot (not like today and yesterday's 101 degrees F), and two Cedar Waxwings were overhead in the mulberry trees trilling and buzzing and chirruping in their special way. Listening to the birds while painting was nice. I even heard a Bobwhite (which is incredibly rare for our neighborhood. I haven't heard one since 1992!! 1992!!! The Bobwhite called out his name six separate times before moving on. I even called Rick out to listen. It was so awesome to hear the Bobwhite's call. Growing up, I heard it all the time.). In all, I did three quick watercolors of a Bay-breasted Warbler...

Painting 229. Bay-breasted Warbler above me...
(watercolor, hot-pressed paper -- this is Matty's favorite painting)

Painting 228. Bay-breasted Warbler watercolor sketch...
(watercolor, cold-pressed paper)

Painting 227. Bay-breasted Warbler, side view...
(watercolor, cold-pressed paper)

Click here to learn more about The Biggest Week in American Birding. You will be amazed at all the warblers you'll see!

I did these paintings for my monthly contribution to the Birding is Fun! blog, so you'll find a similar post there.

Vesper Sparrows singing in the morning...

Vesper Sparrows are sweet birds. They are often described as plain, which I guess they are when you first look at the gray-brown feathers that help them disappear into the scrubby fields they like to haunt, but when they fly from perch to perch in the grass, a flash of white on the outer edges of their tail feathers is bright, and suddenly they are not plain at all. I love these little junco-like birds and enjoy watching them as they flit through the grasses, staying low and out of camera range usually. When I saw this male at Armleder Park, he was singing from one of the higher perches in the field, but he still was able to avoid the camera lens by perching behind grasses and sticks, so instead of photographing him, I did a few field sketches, concentrating on gesture rather than feather detail, etc...

Painting 224. Vesper Sparrow (Pooecetes gramineus) in the Morning...
(This painting started as a pencil sketch. I added watercolor and a touch of colored pencil later.)

Vesper Sparrows love to take dust baths. I've read many accounts of that and was hoping to see one or two fluffing up in the dust and flapping around, but no luck. They are so well adapted to dry dusty fields that they don't use water for bathing or drinking! It's thought they get all the water they need from insects and seeds and possibly also morning dew on the grass.

Painting 225. Vesper Sparrow at Armleder Park
(This painting started as a pencil sketch. I added watercolor and a touch of colored pencil later.)

In bird literature, I've read over and over that Vesper Sparrows were named from the romantic view of naturalist John Burroughs that the bird sang more sweetly at sunset or dusk, which is the time for evening prayers or vespers, but I had never directly read anything about him naming the bird, so I wanted to check it out. I love naturalist writings from the 1800s and early 1900s that have romantic tendencies, so I was glad when I stumbled across the John Burroughs website and a page called "The Naming of the Vesper" (click here for the link). A list of references shows the transition of the bird's original name of "grass finch" or "bay-winged bunting" to the name "vesper sparrow," and although John Burroughs promoted the name, he did not coin it. In Burroughs' 1871 book "Wake-Robin," Burroughs gives credit to Wilson Flagg...

"They sing much after sundown, hence the aptness of the name vesper sparrow, which a recent writer, Wilson Flagg, has bestowed upon them." (Source: "Wake-Robin," by John Burroughs, page 212.  Click here for the free online ebook version of the book.)

...after reading what was on page 212, I started skipping through the book to read more, and I loved his colorful descriptions. Now I want to get a hard copy of "Wake-Robin" and a few of his other books. Here is a glimpse of Burroughs' introduction...

"Do such books as mine give a wrong impression of Nature, and lead readers to expect more from a walk or a camp in the woods than they usually get? I have a few times had occasion to think so. I am not always aware myself how much pleasure I have had in a walk till I try to share it with my reader. The heat of composition brings out the color and the flavor. We must not forget the illusions of all art. If my reader thinks he does not get from Nature what I get from her, let me remind him that he can hardly know what he has got till he defines it to himself as I do, and throws about it the witchery of words. Literature does not grow wild in the woods. Every artist does something more than copy Nature; more comes out in his account than goes into the original experience." (Source: "Wake-Robin," by John Burroughs, page xii.  Click here for the free online ebook version of the book.)

Painting 226. Vesper Sparrow Singing in the Morning
(...another painting started as a pencil sketch. I added watercolor and then gouache later.)

A Green Frog and a Bullfrog....and the differences between frogs and toads...

After posting the photos of the Fowler's Toad (click here for that post), I had a lot of emails from readers asking how to tell a toad and frog apart, so I thought I'd put something together quickly to explain. Let's start with two frogs I recently photographed while I was up at Magee Marsh for the Biggest Week in American Birding. After you see a couple of frogs, we'll move on to telling frogs and toads apart. The first frog is a Green Frog...

Female Green Frog (Rana clamitans melanota)
The easiest way to identify a Green Frog is to study the length of the dorso-lateral fold. Notice the fold of skin that starts just behind the eye, goes over the tympanum (ear drum disc behind the eye) and runs the length of the body. This ridge is the lateral fold. On Green Frogs, it runs the length of the body.

Green Frogs (Rana clamitans melanota) and Bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana) are both green, and a small Bullfrog can look a lot like a Green Frog, but if you look at the lateral fold, there is no mistaking the two. On a Bullfrog, the dorso-lateral fold curls around the tympanum....

Male Bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana)
Notice how the lateral fold curls around the tympanum (eardrum disc next to the eye) and does not extend down the length of the back. Young Bullfrogs can resemble Green Frogs; however, as soon as you check out the lateral fold, you'll know which frog is which!

Telling a male frog from a female frog
There is an easy trick for determining the sex of a Green Frog and a Bullfrog. Look at the tympanum behind the eye. Female tympanums are about the same size as the eye. Male's are almost twice as big!
Note: This little trick works only for Green Frogs and Bullfrogs. The tympanum on most other frogs and toads is slightly smaller than the eye.

To determine the sex of a Green Frog or a Bullfrog compare the tympanum (ear drum) to the eye. A female's tympanum is about the same size as the eye; a male's is almost twice as large! I wish this trick worked for all frogs and toads! (Pencil sketch from my sketchbook.)

What are the differences between a frog and a toad?
Scientifically, there really is no difference between a frog and a toad--both are amphibians in the order "Anura." Morphologically, however, you can see physical differences between the two, and because of that, scientists have classified them into different families. The following characteristics separate "true frogs" (family Ranidae) from "true toads" (family Bufonidae)...

• Skin   Frogs usually have wet and smooth skin because they rarely leave the water. Toads usually have dry and bumpy or warty skin because they prefer to live in damp locations away from the water. 
• Legs   Frogs have long legs and feet, and they can jump far. Toads have shorter legs and can hop, but they can't jump that far. Toads tend to walk around or make little hops. 
• Parotoid gland   Some frogs are poisonous to the touch, but only toads have the large parotoid gland behind the eyes that secretes a toxin that can burn the mouth and mucous membranes of a predator. 
• Body shape   Frogs tend to be leaner and more streamlined for swimming. Toads are often described as being "chubby" or squat.
• Eggs   Frogs usually lay eggs in clusters or mats. Toads tend to lay eggs in chains. 
• Eyes   Frogs are said to have more prominent or "buggy" eyes. Toads less so (for me, the bugginess of the eyes is harder to distinguish. They all look pretty buggy to me!).

The differences between a frog and a toad become apparent when you place them side by side. Toads definitely look chubbier, but the Parotoid gland is what really separates them for me. When I see that poison pouch, I know I'm looking at a toad, and if I see a lateral fold, I know I'm looking at a frog. (Pencil sketch from my sketchbook.) 

These characteristics are generalities and blur quickly when you look at all the Anura families. For example, a Blanchard's Cricket Frog looks a little toady at first glance. He's bumpy and muddy looking and can be found away from water, but if you look for a Parotoid gland you won't find one, because he's a frog...not a toad. (Click here for a post on Cricket Frogs. Click here to learn about the Parotoid gland on a toad.) In Ohio, you can find the following Anuran families:

Ranidae ("true frogs") - Bullfrog, Green Frog, Leopard Frog, Pickerel Frog, Wood Frog
Hylidae - Gray Treefrogs, Chrous Frogs, Spring Peeper, and Cricket Frog
Bufonidae ("true toads") - American Toad, Fowler's Toad
Scaphiopodidae - Eastern Spadefoot Toad

For a complete list of Anuran families, click here.

Sources

• Minton, Sherman A (2001). Amphibians & Reptiles of Indiana, Indiana Academy of Science. ISBN 1-883362-10-5
• Platt, Carolyn V. (1998). Creatures of Change, An Album of Ohio Animals, The Kent State University Press. ISBN 0-87338-585-3
• Ohio Division of Wildlife, "Amphibians of Ohio Field Guide." Click here for a free online PDF of this guide. 

Yellow-thoated Warblers...and the BIGGEST WEEK in American Birding!

I can't wait, I can't wait! I'm just a few days away from packing up the Jeep and heading north to Warblermania, Lake Erie, Magee Marsh, and the Black Swamp Bird Observatory for the BIGGEST WEEK in American Birding! This will be my first time to spend spring migration on the famous boardwalk at Magee Marsh. From what I hear the trees drip with exhausted warblers as they rest up before crossing Lake Erie on the final leg of their journey northward to their summer breeding grounds. I've had so many birding friends tell me the boardwalk at Magee Marsh is the place to be when the warblers start moving through. I'm hoping to be eye level with a few of my favorite warblers while I'm there...so my sketches and photos won't always be of their little warbler bellies...

Painting 222. Yellow-throated Warbler Above Me
(...a quick watercolor and pencil sketch from a walk along the Little Miami River this spring.)

Painting 223. My Neck Hurts Looking up at You!
...could you come down out of the treetops for just five minutes so I could see you head-on?
(...another quick watercolor and pencil sketch from a walk along the Little Miami River)

Our Little Miami River Yellow-throated Warblers...
Every year a Yellow-throated Warbler couple takes up residence along the same stretch of river-front property along the Little Miami River. The male starts singing early, and often, and I look forward to his effusive and amorous strains that fill the treetops. The only problem is, Mr. and Mrs. Yellow-throat like their high-rise digs and never come down to visit us earth-bound bipeds, so my photos of them are always fuzzy and grainy and over-cropped...

...he's mocking me. I know it.

He's sitting pretty, but way beyond 400mm shooting... 

...sing out little fella! Everyone loves to hear your song.

Join me at the Biggest Week!

...if you're heading to Cleveland for spring migration, let me know. I'll be at Magee Marsh Monday - Thursday. If you're not going to be there, stay tuned. I'm going to report in every night with photos of all the sweet birds that came my way. I can't wait!!

See you on the boardwalk!!! :-)

A tisket, a tasket, two little pollen baskets!

A week or so ago I was walking along the Little Miami River when I looked up and saw a honey bee buzzing around the blossoms on a Buckeye tree. She was high over my head, but I could still see two little red balls on her hind legs. "What are those?" went through my mind. I've seen yellow "clumps" on a honey bee's hind legs before, which I assumed were grains of pollen the bee had picked up while pollinating flowers, but I had never seen red clumps, much less red balls. A quick Internet search when I got home solved the mystery--"pollen baskets." Not all bees have pollen baskets, and not all pollen baskets function the same, but it seems the color of the pollen in the baskets is determined by the pollen source. Our little bee was pollinating Buckeye trees when I saw her, but maybe the red pollen came from a flower she had just visited. Either way, the thought of the busy bee inspired a quick painting...

Painting 220. Busy Bee with Red Pollen Baskets (oil pastel)
This is just a generic representation of a bee...it came out of my head, so it doesn't match any species in a field guide!

Pencil sketches from my sketchbook of honey bees with full pollen baskets...
When I got home that evening, I created an entry in my sketchbook. Again, these are just generic drawings of bees as I see them in my imagination. I don't know the species. I just thought the pollen baskets were cool, and wanted to record what I saw.

More about pollen baskets...
A pollen basket (or "corbicula") is a slightly concave, smooth surface on the hind legs of bumble bees, honey bees, orchid bees, and stingless bees. The "basket" is surrounded by guard hairs that hold in pollen the bee has dampened with nectar or honey and compressed into a "pollen pellet." When the bee mixes the pollen with nectar, the color of the pollen changes, but it is the source of the pollen that really determines the color of the pollen pellets in the pollen basket. Bee keepers can identify the pollen source just by looking at the pellets deposited at the hive. Bees that don't have pollen baskets have other structures for transporting pollen. Some use "scopa," a brush of hairs often on the hind legs and some carry the pollen in their crop. (Soure: Encyclopedia of Entomology 2008, pgs 419-434, here; Wikipedia, here, and for examples of pollen sources and their color, click here.)

...the red balls on this honey bee's hind legs (tibia) are called pollen baskets (corbicula). Pollen is a bee's main source of protein, fat, minerals, and some starches, so it's important the bee has a way to transport the food back to the hive. (Click here for a detailed article on bees that explains more about their dietary needs.)

...this little bee has been very busy! Her pollen baskets look almost full. It takes a worker bee from three to eighteen minutes to fill up the pollen baskets and return to the hive. That's quite a difference. I guess it depends on the abundance of pollen at the source...or whether the busy little bee is simply a slacker! (Source: Wikipedia. To learn more about bee research, check out Karl von Frisch, here.)

A buckeye tree with newly emerged leaves and blossoms just beginning to open was a favorite of this honey bee. Through the camera lens I could just make out the red balls on her legs. I almost didn't photograph the bee because she was so far away, but I wanted to find out what those red balls were! I'm glad I did...

...a sketchbook scribble I almost didn't include, but it's fun...and I need the paintings for the challenge! :-)
Painting 221. Busy Little Bee, Take That Pollen on Home! 
(watercolor and pencil--scribble idea for a future painting)