![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/black-chinned-hummingbird-3834-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"black-chinned-hummingbird-3834-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nSeveral species of bees love my trumpet vine as much as hummingbirds do, which sets the stage for conflict.<\/p>\n
Each of the three series of photos below was taken a couple of days ago at the trumpet vine in my side yard. In most of the photos the hummer or the bee is soft (in a couple of photos both of them are soft) because of a lack of depth of field.<\/p>\n
But that doesn’t mean that the bird and the bee weren’t close to each other. With my photo gear, at the settings I was using and at the distance I was from the hummer (17′), I only have about 1\/4″ of depth within which everything is truly sharp. So in these series, if the hummer is sharp and the bee is fairly soft, or vice versa, the two of them were still quite close to each other.<\/p>\n
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I never knew when a bee was going to appear on the scene and neither did the female hummer but she sure didn’t like it when they showed up. When they did she always stopped feeding on the flowers and watched the bee intently and sometimes she just skedaddled.<\/p>\n
Most of them were honeybees but this one was a bumblebee and it sure got her attention.<\/p>\n
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She backed off a little, kept her eye on it and waited until it was gone before going back to feeding on the flowers.<\/p>\n
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This may or may not be the same hummer but in this case the bee near her tail had sneaked up on her. At this point she didn’t even know it was there.<\/p>\n
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But when the bee almost looked like it flew up her butt it got her attention.<\/p>\n
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She reacted by backing off as the bee disappeared out of frame at bottom.<\/p>\n
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But six photos in the burst later the bee was back and…<\/p>\n
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went to a flower right next to the flower she’d originally been perched on. So after this shot was taken the hummer moved on to a different flower cluster much further away.<\/p>\n
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Again, I don’t know if this is the same hummer as before but she had a similar reaction when this bee showed up.<\/p>\n
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Way too close for comfort but…<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/black-chinned-hummingbird-3925-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"black-chinned-hummingbird-3925-ron-dudley\\"")
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she stood her ground as the bee began to move on. Of all of the hummer\/bee photos I got that morning, this is the only one where both bird and insect were truly sharp.<\/p>\n
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This is the last shot I got with the bee still in the frame. And yes, she’s still watching it intently.<\/p>\n
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I wondered if bees actually sting hummingbirds occasionally and found this:<\/p>\n
“Hummingbirds do not eat bees or wasps. Even though hummingbirds eat insects as part of their diet, hummingbirds do not consider bees or wasps to be a food source. One reason is being stung can be fatal.<\/em><\/p>\n The venom from the sting or stings of either bees or wasps can overwhelm the small body system of the hummingbird resulting in death. For example, the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird weighs approximately 3 grams (about 1 American penny) and only measures 3 \u2013 3.5 inches (half of a dollar bill). Too small to fight off the venom injected by the stinger.”<\/em><\/p>\n If I were a hummingbird I’d be careful too. I’m not and I’m still careful.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Several species of bees love my trumpet vine as much as hummingbirds do, which sets the stage for conflict. (11 photos)<\/p>\n