The Nature Photography Thread

[drache]

these are wonderful, Terry
thanks a ton
do you know what affect the colour of the bees?
the ones I saw in the park were a very dark yellow like honey
yours seem a bit paler
and the ones I remember from Germany were striped
are these subspecies?

[stonyloam]

Not subspecies, just different genetic traits. There a bunch of different strains Italians (light color), Caucasians (I think that's how you spell it are dark, almost black) are a couple. They all have the color characteristics of the queen. African (killer) bees are a subspecies.

[Stefan-A]

African (killer) bees are a subspecies.

You know more about bees than I do, but aren't they a hybrid?

[adamanteus]

Excellent stuff Terry, great photos too. Thanks.

[Snaky]

Very interesting and fun to read, thanks for sharing it

[abcat1993]

I love this one. I always wanted to have my own pond. How did you get so lucky?

My dad dug a hole in the ground in my back yard, put some rubber material down, put rocks around it, filled it with water and put plants and animals in. Also, this is something like 10 years after he made it, and it didn't look as good when it was first started, although it was a heck of a lot clearer.

[stonyloam]

Stefan: The common European honeybee is Apis mellifera mellifera (I think), and the African honeybee is a m scutellata. You are right, in that the African bees have been hybridized with the Europeans, however the nasty traits seem to be dominant, so we say the “killer” bees are colonies have been “Africanized”. It is interesting that each hive can have its own personality. I have had some really mean ones, and some very non-aggressive ones. Depends on the queen

[adamanteus]

Tegenaria domestica.

[Stefan-A]

Nice shot, James.

Haven't posted any pics in a couple of weeks, but here goes..







They mostly come out at night.. mostly.

[Stefan-A]

find the Motacilla alba.


What a coincidence, by the way. Left on friday, returned half an hour ago. During that time, all three of my snakes had gone into the blue phase.