Bees, flowers and ants

Another sunny day with more opportunities. Today bees and ants got some focus.

These ants are a different kind than the ones posted before. These are larger ants living in the woods in the hills behind the house. The spring seems to be their season for bounty gathering. Active in so large numbers that it was difficult to stop at any one place for fear of ants climbing up on us. In fact, one ant had lodged its mandibles on my shoe lace. 

The bees have been regular visitors, but today was the first chance to get them on camera. Ants seem very easy models compared to the bee. So difficult to get a steady moment, but they do sit quiet for a moment or two to feed on the nectar. . .

Lastly, a few shots along the trek route today.

The tree was so laden with the berries that all the branches were bent low. Mind you, these berries are not the human edible type, but the local birds get good nourishment.

Another fly in the flowers

Another day of sunshine and more flies gather around, this time a more colourful type than the previous one.

Pollination is whats its all about for the flowers, but from the actions of the fly, it almost felt as if it was trying to clean off the pollen from those spindly legs.

Summer - wild flowers

Somehow, its never tiring to 'snap' a few wild flowers.

Notice the spider on the first 2 snaps.

The common fly - its summer time

A common sight in the garden these days is the - FLY. Today's shots are from the sunny days last week. 

As always, here on the west coast, the winds turn out surprisingly hostile whenever a camera appears in hand. The fly in this case was quite patient through the clicks.

Maur - Ants (part 4)

These foragers were quite busy one summer afternoon. As mentioned before, one of the most difficult critter to catch still, I had to hover around, while they nourished on the juicy flower sap.

अबोली (Marathi) - Crossandra infundibuliformis (firecracker flower)

Incy Wincy Spider (3)

Another common garden spider, patiently waiting while we clicked.

I always thought that lizards were the best "models" yet, but the spiders have surprised me again. Except for one, all the spiders (both in India and Norway), have patiently stood by while I clicked left, right, above, center.

Incy Wincy Spider (2)

I have seen this critter all my childhood in the garden, especially in the spring, when the flowers are in bloom.

Looking close, it seemed like I was seeing them for the first time, with a face staring right back at me.

Pelicans

Crows

My second favorite bird, the crow. Never a dull moment when you have crows around. And mind you, they always move in flocks, so its easy to miss one crow doing something interesting while I'm busy clicking another.

This fellow here is sitting on an emu's back. (Hyderabad zoo)

A city crow (Mumbai).

A crow running to get some scraps . . . (Hyderabad zoo), not a good shot, I know. ut this is the aspect that I like most about ants and crows - they never sit still, always upto something.

Fishing