Bee Proboscis

Today's nature lesson is about the bee's proboscis (tongue). Bumblebees have a long hairy/feathery tongue which can reach far into flowers for nectar.  From within a hard sheath the bumblebee unrolls it's soft tongue into a flower, repeatedly dipping it into the liquid.  As the bee laps the nectar, it soaks in and is drawn up the proboscis. The photo shows the horny sheath through which the tongue extends.

This was a cool day, and only the bumblebees and Pennsylvania leatherwing beetles were active.  The bees did a lot of crawling and not much flying in the cooler temps.


Used my old camera/macro lens for the daily photo hike since the day is completely overcast.  This camera has a bracket with a flash mounted a foot/30 cm to the side with the flash rotated to aim at the center point. Tried photos without using the flash, but they did not cut it as they had motion blur and were lifeless.The flash helped freeze the action and add color.  The white reflections on the bee's head, antenna, and legs are from the flash.