White pollen

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White pollen

August 11, 2014 by Mike Powell

I usually think of pollen as being bright yellow, but this past weekend I observed a small multi-colored bee covered in white pollen from what appears to be a chicory flower. Who knew that pollen could have different colors?

Posted in Flowers, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography | Tagged Alexandria VA, bee, Canon 50D, chicory, Huntley Meadows Park, pollen, Tamron 180mm macro lens, white pollen | 17 Comments

17 Responses

on August 11, 2014 at 10:09 am | Reply talain45

Very cool Michael, lovely shot.
on August 11, 2014 at 1:55 pm | Reply Dan Antion

Wow , he’s a mess 😉
on August 11, 2014 at 2:26 pm | Reply Bruce Ruston

Lovely shot Mike
on August 11, 2014 at 4:28 pm | Reply benrowef64

Good shot Mike, he is covered in the pollen. Like the sharpness and the colour.
on August 11, 2014 at 8:05 pm | Reply donna213

I love those metallic green bees, but never saw one so coated in pollen. As tiny as they are it is such a good photo.
- on August 11, 2014 at 8:44 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Donna. I tried taking quite a few shots of the little bee and this is the one that turned out best. The bee was moving, so it was a little tough to get a clear shot at such close range, but I like the way this one turned out. So you think this is one of the metallic green bees? i thought it might be, but wasn’t sure.
  - on August 11, 2014 at 8:49 pm donna213
    
    I think so, but it is really pollen covered.
on August 11, 2014 at 11:26 pm | Reply krikitarts

Actually, it comes in a wide variety of colors!
on August 12, 2014 at 6:03 am | Reply afrenchgarden

I love looking at the different colours of pollen on the bees. My favourite is when they collect from Marsh Mallow (Althaea officinalis) and the pollen is pink. Amelia
- on August 12, 2014 at 6:09 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  I suspected that you would be much more familiar with the different colors of pollen, given your experience with bees. It’s amazing to see new things all of the time when I am looking at things through a macro lens.
on August 12, 2014 at 6:20 am | Reply New Hampshire Garden Solutions

Knapweed is another flower that has white pollen but with a light bluish tint. I like seeing bees that look like they have rolled in it. Nice shot!
on August 12, 2014 at 8:25 pm | Reply Bella Remy Photography

What an amazing capture this is. The dust particles are amazing Mike.
on August 14, 2014 at 2:05 pm | Reply lizard100

Pollen has many colours and these vary across the year too. Purple pollen can be very impressive. Nice photo.
- on August 14, 2014 at 7:33 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks for the info and the kind words. I guess I need to pay more attention to pollen. it would be really cool to find some purple pollen (or pink, as one of my other readers mentioned)
  - on August 15, 2014 at 1:39 am lizard100
    
    It’s another aspect of the amazing work of the hive.
on August 15, 2014 at 2:47 am | Reply mariekeates

I love the brightness of chicory flowers but I never noticed the white pollen before.
- on August 15, 2014 at 4:20 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  I’ve actually photographed them before and I too never noticed the white pollen either. It pays to look really closely!