Yellow carpenter bee

Xylocopa caffra

I had it in mind to try for a female damsel fly as a follow up to yesterday's damsel sex discussion. I did find one, but I could tell from the preview that I hadn't nailed it. I did manage two more damsel shots, but they were both males and not part of the plan.

It seemed to be a day of 'in flight' shots. I almost captured a damsel as it took off just as I released the shutter, but unfortunately I was in heavy cover and relying on flash to light her and 60th second did nothing to freeze the action. I did get a half decent butterfly in flight, as it tried to negotiate a fence, but again, didn't nail it. Same goes for some small wasps in flight.

This carpenter bee was high on my list of shots and was the reason that I decided on a late safari today. I first spotted the bee two days ago, the day I posted the orange skipper butterfly. The bee almost made blip, but again, I hadn't nailed it and decided that such an impressive bee deserved better. I made a note of the time of the previous bee shot and that determined today's timing.

There was a single white bloom on the edge of one of the rice paddies and the bee seemed to have made this it's territory upon which I was intruding. It didn't seem particularly interested in feeding, in fact the very aggressive bee seemed more intent on feeding on me!

The bee would hover in front of me for a second or two, looking right at me, then it would fly away in a ten foot circle and repeat time and time again. It was quite nerve wracking at first, but once it became obvious that the bee was not going to actually attack, it became one of those rare blip moments. To give you an idea of how intense this bee's frustration was with me, I collected 91 images.

Back at the lab, the 91 was whittled down to 37, all better than my previous attempt. This was then reduced to twelve and then five keepers. The final choice was difficult. I thought about a combo blip, but I could never do any of the individual images justice. I think this shot demonstrates the aggression best and you can see its biting jaws exposed for me!

I am so excited about this shot, especially as the wildlife group is having a 'flight' month.

Hope you like this one.

Dave