That bumblebee is the bomb!

"Bombus impatiens" that is. This furry little "bombus" or bumble bee was buzzing around a stand of purple coneflowers in the meadow at Shawnee State Park...

A fuzzy, round bumble bee hovers over its next nectar source, a vibrant purple coneflower. The bumble's loud buzzing was persistent...and one of the wonderful sounds of summer.

I don't know a lot about bumble bees, so that evening I got out my "Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America" to see what species this bumble was. From the photo and description, I'm deducing Common Eastern Bumble Bee (Bombus impatiens). Bombus impatiens' field marks include a thorax covered in yellow pile (or fuzz) with a small bald spot on top, and an abdomen with only the first segment covered in yellow pile...

In this photo, it looks like just the first segment of the bee's abdomen is covered in the yellow fuzz, which identifies it as a Common Eastern Bumble Bee (Bombus impatiens). If the second segment was also covered in the yellow fuzz, it would be an American Bumble Bee (Bombus pensylvanicus).  The Common Eastern Bumble Bee (Bombus impatiens) is one of the most common bumble bees in our area and in the eastern United States. 

A pollen basket (or "corbicula") is a smooth surface on the hind leg of a female bumble bee or honey bee. Males do not have pollen baskets. Bumble bees and honey bees use pollen baskets to carry pollen back to the nest. Click here for an earlier post that explains how pollen baskets work. Click here for other ways to tell female and male bumble bees apart. Another difference between a male and female bumble bee is the stinger. Females have them, males don't. Unlike honey bees, who die after stinging because they have a barbed stinger that is left in the victim, bumble bees can sting more than once because their stinger is smooth. Click here for more info on a bumble bee's stinger.

...let's zoom in a bit to look at the ocelli (three primitive eyes) on the top of his head. These eyes help the bumble bee see ultraviolet light, and are also used for stability while flying by helping the bee detect the horizon. To read more about ocelli, click here. To see the ocelli on a grasshopper (from an older post), click here. 

Bumble bees have long tongues encased in a hard sheath. The tongue is reddish, and the tip is hairy and feathery. This modification helps the bumble bee lap up nectar. It is not a sucking tube like a butterfly's proboscis. (Source: "The Natural History of Bumblebees, a Sourcebook for Investigations," by Carol A. Kearns and James D. Thomson, pg 30.) For a close-up photo of the feathery tongue, click here.

Bees in the late summer sun 

Drone their song 

Of yellow moons 

Trimming black velvet, 

Droning, droning a sleepysong.

                    --Carl Sandburg

The yellow pile looks as soft as a bunny's fur, but the fuzzy "hairs" are actually finely branched setae. The branching helps pollen stick to the hairs, which function more like our skin in that they contain sensors that let the bee feel wind speed and direction, or detect chemicals. For more on bumblebee hair, click here. For a quick overview of the differences between mammalian hair (keratin) and insect "hair" or setae (chitin), click here. 

Bumble bees are so big, round and fat it seems improbable they could fly with their delicate wings, but they do!  Here this Bombus impatiens hovers over a purple coneflower. She soon lit on the orange spikes to lap nectar, one of her main food sources. Bumble bees eat pollen and drink nectar. They have no other food source.

South winds jostle them--
Bumblebees come--
Hover--hesitate--
Drink, and are gone--
--Emily Dickinson

"Storm," the Barn Owl, makes a cameo appearance...

"Storm," the Barn Owl, is a teaching owl at RAPTOR, Inc. in Cincinnati, Ohio. RAPTOR is a non-profit organization committed to the preservation of birds of prey. RAPTOR members rehabilitate injured birds of prey until they can be released back into the wild. Unfortunately, some have permanent damage and can't hunt or survive on their own, so they stay on at RAPTOR as educational birds. Last autumn I  photographed many of their resident birds, and Storm was one of them. Storm was admitted to RAPTOR on June 26, 2007 as a nestling with a severe left wing soft tissue wound. The owl's left wing had been caught in the seam of a barn and was not able to be saved. Since then, Storm has become one of the most photographed and beloved of their educational birds (click here for all past RAPTOR, Inc. posts).

Whenever I post photos of captive raptors, I always make sure to let artists know they can use the photos as references for their paintings, so I was especially happy when I heard from the very talented and interesting Virginia painter Mary Chiaramonte. Mary put our beautiful Storm in one of her paintings and sent me a photo of it that I could post. If you look at the shed, Storm is perched on the right side of the roof...

"Trespass" by Mary Chiaramonte
(Storm the Barn Owl is perched on the right side of the roof...looking very Stormy! I love the night-feel in this painting.)

Mary's paintings are multi-faceted and very interesting. I can't stop looking at them! They are made up of layer upon layer of emotion. You'll have to take your time and study them. Click here to see more of her paintings. Thank you, Mary for sending me the photo! If you are interested in keeping up with Mary's work, you can "friend " her on Facebook because she posts new paintings there: http://www.facebook.com/mary.chiaramonte.9

Since Storm has been made famous in Mary's painting, I thought I would include a few more photos of our gorgeous star. These are all great reference photos for artists and painters focusing on cryptic feather patterns, wing shape, and close-ups of those amazing talons and feet...

Barn Owl feathers have beautiful cryptic colors and patterns to help camouflage it.

...a profile shot of Storm the Barn Owl with a bit of "eyeshine" triggered by the morning sunlight reflecting off the tapetum lucidum, a reflective layer of cells behind the retina that helps owls and other nocturnal animals see at night (click here for more about eyeshine and the tapetum lucidum).  

Storm in the classic Count Dracula pose...

The silent flight of nocturnal owls has intrigued humans forever. It's achieved because of a unique adaptation to the trailing feathers on the back end of the wing. The leading edge (primary feathers) are serrated, which helps with stability, but the trailing feathers are fringed and tattered and account for the silence by breaking up the sound waves generated as air flows over the top of the wings and forms downstream wakes (source: National Geographic, "Owls' Silent Flight May Inspire Quiet Aircraft Tech," by John Roach. Click here for the complete article).    

These large, forward facing eyes allow for good stereoscopic vision, which helps owls judge distances. Owls have the most forward facing eyes of all birds...and the flat face allows the eyes to be spaced as widely apart as possible to increase the stereoscopic effect. It's easy to see where the nickname, "Old Flatface" came from. For more on owl eyesight, click here.

The strong, long and sharp talons on owls' and other raptors'  feet can do a lot of damage and set them apart from other birds. Birds of prey have a locking mechanism that keeps the toes locked around their prey without having to use muscles to remain contracted. Click here for more specifics on owls' talons.  

Holy Cow...a Cicada Killer Wasp!

We saw our first ever Cicada Killer Wasp this weekend. Rick watched him hanging out by the ash tree and called me over to take a look. When I caught sight of him "Yikes" was the only thing I could say. He was a big wasp. Really big. Almost two-inches-long big. How on earth had we never seen one before...it was huge! The wasp was lapping up sap near the base of our dying ash tree (the same tree from this post) and didn't seem to mind us looking on. We watched it for a while, but then I ran in and got my "Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America." It only took a few minutes to identify him--it's not hard to find a wasp that's close to two-inches long...

Cicada Killer Wasp (Sphecius sp.)
This looks like an average-sized wasp, but when you consider he was about 30 feet up the tree, and I could still focus in on him, you start to get an idea of his size. He's nice and colorful too...with orange-ish legs and reddish-eyes, not to mention the yellow and black stripes on his abdomen.

...but don't get too worried. These gentle wasps are not aggressive. The males have no stingers, and the females really only like to sting Cicadas. They will sting humans, though--but only if they feel threatened or you try to hold them down.

Cicada Killer wasps live up to their name. The females are hunters, and when they find a cicada, they sting it, paralyzing it with venom. They then carry (either flying or walking) the paralyzed cicada to a burrow where they have dug tunnels that end in cells (up to 16 cells per burrow or nest). They drag the cicada to one of the cells and lay a single egg on it. The egg hatches out and the grub-like larvae eats the cicada alive as it grows. (Source, "Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America," by Eaton and Kaufman, pg 336.) I spent some time watching two wasps fly around in our tree, but never did witness a cicada take-down.

Yellow markings on the black abdomen of a Cicada Killer Wasp.

Cicada Killers like to build their nests in loose soils. The drought has created a few sandy spots on some of our hills in the front yard. We think we know where one of the burrows is. I read the wasps can displace up to a pound of soil while excavating the tunnels and cells, and the holes often look like they could belong to an animal. I'm going to watch for more and hopefully get some better photos.

The Cicada Killers loved the sap leaking from our ash tree. Adults live on nectar and pollen from flowers...and sap from trees. They don't eat the cicadas, only the grub-like larvae do. 

The exoskeleton of the cicada nymph. I wonder if this cicada survived after molting, or if the Cicada Killer got him!

To learn more about Cicada Killer Wasps, click here for information from the University of Kentucky.

Closeups of a male Tree Swallow...

Matty and I just got back from our week of volunteering at Shawnee State Park. In addition to working with the snakes and helping in the nature center, we cleared brush, poison ivy, honeysuckle, and multiflora roses to help create a new trail that will lead from the boat ramp all the way around Turkey Lake to the lodge road. Before I post any of those photos (I got a few cool shots of interesting insects...and a Timber Rattlesnake), I thought I'd better finish off part three of the tree swallow series. In the end, the tree swallows moved on, and the house wrens went back to domestic bliss, but before the dispute ended, the male flew over close to me. I could see he was holding a wispy strand of soft nesting material in his right foot...

A male Tree Swallow carries nesting material in his right foot. 

...the striking metallic blue feathers on his back contrast beautifully with the white feathers on his neck, chest and belly.

These photos were all taken on May 7, 2012 at Magee Marsh in Toledo, Ohio. I was at the Biggest Week in American Birding festival. This is part three of the series:

Click here for part 1 (focuses on a yearling female at the nesting cavity).
Click here for part 2 (focuses on a territory dispute between two House Wrens and two Tree Swallows).

The Great Bird Confab...

...this post continues the house-hunting adventures of the Tree Swallow couple from the previous post (click here for the first installment). With the endless discussing, twittering and scolding going back and forth between these two swallows and the two angry little House Wrens, this "episode" is called The Great Bird Confab. It truly looked like a mighty discussion was taking place...pros and cons were being discussed by the swallows, and threats and barbs were being thrown all over the place between the swallows and the wrens...

A male and a female yearling Tree Swallow twitter back and forth at the entrance of a very popular nesting cavity! Female yearling Tree Swallows retain the brown color of their youth. As yearlings they have only a hint of the sparkling metallic blue and green feathers they will sport next season.  

House Wrens can sound a bit raucous even when they are happy, but when their ire has been raised, they are little hellions. This angry wren was vigorously defending her nesting cavity...

House Wrens often steal nesting cavities from other birds (and will even kill nestlings and larger birds to evict them), but this time, I think they were there first. Just below the hole the swallows were interested in was a downstairs entrance that was bursting with twigs--evidence that a House Wren had been working there and had already set up camp. House Wren nests are twiggy and look uncomfortable, but within the twigs they create a soft cup often filled with feathers from other birds. 

...meanwhile, these two continue to discuss the possibilities...

...weighing the pros and the cons...

...and who knows what else.

I think I'm being told to kindly butt out, take my camera elsewhere, move on, ride out on the horse I rode in on, or maybe I'm just being asked..."Do you mind?" It's an unnerving glare to say the least... 

Angry bird...
The wrens would come in close and scold, then fly back a bit and sit. Then come back in, scolding and chiding. I saw no physical contact, but things were heating up.

Seething bird...

...the swallows look like they are sniping at each other, but really, their singing back and forth was beautiful, musical and sweet--a quick jumble of fluid notes that was wonderful to listen to.

The female enters the nest again, and the story continues... 

There were a lot of photos to wade through here...sorry! I was going to choose just the best and post them in one entry, but since it's sometimes difficult to see Tree Swallows up close, I decided to post several of the photos to show the varied expressions, head tilts, and postures of the tree swallows. Artists can feel free to use the photos in this trilogy (another episode is coming) as references to study postures, plumage, etc.


These photos were all taken on May 7, 2012 at Magee Marsh in Toledo, Ohio. I was at the Biggest Week in American Birding festival. This is part two of a three-part series:

Click here for part 1 (focuses on a yearling female at the nesting cavity).
Click here for part 3 (closeups of a male Tree Swallow)

Female Tree Swallow inspects a nesting cavity...

This yearling female Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) was giving a possible nesting cavity the once over. She studied it from every angle. Finally the male flew up to see if she liked it...

A female Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) checks out a possible nesting cavity....

You can tell this is a female yearling Tree Swallow because of her coloring. Adult male and female Tree Swallows look alike with metallic greenish-blue feathers on the upper parts and white feathers on the lower parts, but one-year old females retain the brownish feathers of youth with just a sprinkle of the metallic blue and green feathers on the back.

Our little female Tree Swallow looks happy with the site, and the male seems pleased too, but just a few branches over another bird was fit to be tied. More photos to come...

I saw this pair of Tree Swallows on the boardwalk at Magee Marsh in Toledo, Ohio on May 7, 2012. She was very thorough in her inspection. After the male flew up, they both sang to each other over and over. It looked like they had found their perfect springtime home... This is part one of a three-part series:

Click here for part 2 (focuses on a territory dispute between two House Wrens and two Tree Swallows).
Click here for part 3 (closeups of a male tree swallow).

Warbling Vireo catches fly...then removes head, wings, and legs before eating...

I know this post is a little strange, but the behavior is interesting. Watching this Warbling Vireo (Vireo gilvus) catch a fly and then proceed to pluck it like a chicken before eating it, was unexpected. I've seen hawks de-feather birds before eating them, but I've never watched a warbler de-head, de-wing and de-leg a bug before dining...

A Warbling Vireo (Vireo gilvus) catches a fly in midair from his perch. 

First he secures it with his foot...

...then he rips off the head and gives it a fling.

...then he goes back to rip off a wing...

...and reposition for better handling.

The fly still has a few legs and one wing...

...but not for long.

There goes another leg...

...and then the wing.

The fly has been plucked clean and is ready for consumption.

...but first it has to be positioned just so.

...the first gulp...

...and it's down the hatch!

I photographed this Warbling Vireo at Magee Marsh in Toledo, Ohio. I was there this May during spring migration for the Biggest Week in American Birding festival (click here for all the Magee Marsh posts). The sun was setting, casting the boardwalk in semi-darkness and deep shadow, so the quality of these photos is not best, but the subject was so cool (...and cool always trumps quality!). I'll have to watch carefully to see if other birds take off the head, legs and wings of insects before they eat them. I frequently see cicada wings lying around on the ground, so I assume birds ripped those wings off before eating, but I've never photographed a bird doing it...