On Wednesday at Green Spring Gardens, a county-run historic garden just a few miles from my home, I got a really good look at this bee’s proboscis, the long, straw-like tongue that it uses to collect nectar. From my angle, it looked more like a deadly weapon. Yikes! As you can probably tell, I have switched to using my macro lens most of the time now that the warmer weather has caused more insects to reappear.
One of my friends on Facebook named this bee the “Gene Simmons” bee, because it reminded him of an iconic pose by the singer from the band KISS in which his extended tongue reached to the tip of his chin. It is hard to know if it is true, but according to urban legend, Simmons had his tongue insured for a million dollars during the 1970’s, when KISS was at its height of popularity. The popular rumor at the time that he had a cow’s tongue grafted onto his own, however, has been disproven.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 