Mirror Images

You’re ‘pollen’ my heartstrings

A bumblebee collects pollen on a sunflower at Keith Hilltop Terrace in Altoona. Bees use their front legs to comb pollen from its body while mixing it with nectar. Then the sticky mixture is pressed into “pollen baskets” or corbiculae that are located on a bee’s hind legs. This bee’s “baskets” are full and can weigh slightly more than its own body weight. It will be carried back to its hive to be deposited into a wax comb which will eventually be broken down into “bee food” for the colony. The photo and information was submitted by Missy McCaulley of Altoona.