Creatures: Opus One

Commenting on the Bryce Canyon posts, my friend Beck had this to say:

I still love the reputed comment of Ebenezer Bryce, who homesteaded the area in the late 1800’s: 
"Hell of a place to lose a cow”


“The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.”

― Dorothea Lange

The quote from Dorothea Lange (best known for her Depression Era photographs) rings so true in a serious photographer's life.

The big cats were photographed in Wild Animal Park, now known as San Diego Safari Park.

As luck would have it for a photographer: she was fierce, she was ferocious, she was loath to temper her fury and eager to manifest anger and aggression. She was... yawning.

 This coyote was shot in Yosemite Valley, and as luck would have it, turned out to be quite delicious. I love the winter coat this one sports. Our coyotes here along the southern California coastal region where I live don't exhibit such thick and lush winter fur.

Bee Ball. It was getting late in the afternoon when in Alta Laguna Park, Laguna Beach, California once, that I heard the no-mistaking-about-it humming sound of an approaching swarm of bees. I looked around and spotted the dark, amorphous bee blob heading in my general direction. I happened to be near the park's tot lot, when the blob slowed down and proceeded to  mass itself on the branch of an elderberry tree growing next to the tot lot. It took on the shape of a giant pineapple, suspended there in that little tree. Those visiting the tot lot left quite hurriedly, pretty much giving me that portion of the park to myself.

At certain times of the year, bees tend to migrate if the hive they live in gets too crowded. A second queen bee is produced in the hive, after which, part of that colony gathers around her and forms a protective shield. This swarm then takes off to other parts in order to start a new colony.

Over the years, I've seen many swarms pass over and through Alta Laguna Park, as I work there as its park gardener. They seem to generally travel in an east-to-west path and tend to fly low; anywhere between three to twenty feet above the ground. I can always tell when they pass through if I hear panic and pandemonium somewhere in the park, especially from those within the confines of  the tennis courts. Many people freak out when they see and hear them, although there is no real danger of getting attacked by swarming bees. Granted, there are those that are very allergic to bee stings, and are rightly alarmed, but to those that are educated in the life of a migrating bee, the unfolding comedy can be priceless.

Migrating bees have one goal in mind: stay with the queen. They have no desire to make one's day miserable. Where she goes, they go. The queen will lay down and rest somewhere towards the evening, safely ensconced within her living shield of accompanying worker bees. The following morning, the swarm stirs and moves on.  When taking this photo and several others of the swarm, I got as close as six feet without even one nervous buzz from a pair of bee wings. I'm not advocating people to nonchalantly walk up to a bee ball and poke at it with a stick. They are safe though, to approach at a respectful distance and marvel at the natural wonder at hand. It may be a different story with an established hive, as they tend to be territorial and defensive of it.

I did see a car covered in bees once when living in San Clemente, which is located just down the coast from Laguna Beach. Again, it was late afternoon; a woman parked on the street and ran in to get something at a corner liquor store. When she came out, much of her car was draped in a living mass of writhing bees. The cops and a fire engine were called out, that portion of the street was closed off, and I'm assuming they were waiting for a beekeeper to show up and scoop them away. I couldn't stay to see the outcome, as it was getting dark and I had to get home.

Things may be a little different now, that Africanized bees are part of the picture. But remember one thing: a bee is a bee is a bee; swarmers only wish to be with the queen and move on. If the queen happens to land on you, well, that may be a story to save for the grand kids one day... if you live through it.   ;-))