  | The blackberry patch on our hillside is definitely a bee magnet; some days I'll see five different species of bombus in addition to the honeybees, mason bees, and bee mimics. Thank you bees...blackberry pies will be enjoyed in abundance this autumn! Have you ever heard that bumblebees should not be able to fly as it would defy the laws of physics? This story is a myth, but it is based on the science of how airplanes fly by creating lift with the angle of their wings. It turns out that bumblebees are not built like airplanes; Karl Smallwood explains that the way that bumblebees fly is "...by rotating their wings, which creates pockets of low air pressure, which in turn create small eddies above the bee’s wing which lift it into the air and, thus, grant it the ability to fly." In essence, they create mini-hurricanes and ride them out. Bee ID: top Bombus melanopygus; middle and bottom no confirmation ID (yet) |
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