I was especially thrilled to see this large and beautiful American Bumble Bee. I’d just read in the Center for Biological Diversity‘s newsletter that their numbers are down 89% overall and that they have disappeared from 8 states. The Center is suing US Fish and Wildlife Service to make it protect the bees under the Endangered Species Act.
Here, the bee is nectaring Pickerel Flower (aka Pickerelweed) that grows in the pond.
Last August, I spotted a similar scene, but with a dark-form Eastern Swallowtail nectaring the other side of the flower. Suddenly, the bee flew above the butterfly and dropped down to drive her away. After a few attempts, the bee gave up and the butterfly continued eating.
