University Parks: Honey Bees & Japanese Anemones

More colourful in large.

After almost posting a similar shot the other day, I decided to give this another go, with faster shutter speeds... This is 1/5000", and still the wings are a blur; the wingbeat frequency of honey bees is typically 200-250Hz, so this is about 1/20th of a wingbeat period, although the wings are just at the beginning of the upstroke, so the blur is probably mostly from rotation rather than translation.
Those studying the wingbeat kinematics of honey bees typically use high frame rate cameras at more than 4000 frames per second (so 1/4000" would be the slowest shutter speed possible).

I had fun, but will have to try again at 1/8000"...
I've uploaded a few others to Flickr (here, or right from this furry faced bee in a Hibiscus).
Alternatives:
Eriothrix on Osteospermum
Honey bee in flight (with bokeh)
Honey bee in flight (side on)
Honey bee in flight (from above) [extreme wing twist visible!]