14.  July 4. A bumble bee (a queen? she seems rather large) foraging on crown vetch flowers. Crown vetch flowers resemble Chinese milk vetch, but they are from two different genus.

 15. July 8. Heartland Apicultural Society conference was in Albion Michigan (closest to me!) and of course I had to bring my camera there also.  I have never seen bees on this flower (a commonly planted agave, in the family Agavaceae, now moved to Aasparagaceae (yes, tell me that is close to asparagus!). After a long observation, I determined that the bees (2 or 3) were foraging for water on the flower petals only.


 16. July 24. I visited my mother and went to a few plots of vegetables to look for bees. I think I have shot bees visiting egg plant flowers before (in Jiangxi) but this is only the second time I saw it.  This is an Apis cerana also.

17.  With my keen eyes, I then saw a spider catching a honey bee! I never had a chance to shoot this. You can also see 3 flies, trying to suck some juice from the dying bee. 好象上次看到一个照片解释这些蝇子. 这个图片一个可以去领奖啊！

18. July 24. My youngest brother was planting rice. I did that when I was in middle and high school but of course I never could have owned a camera at that time!  I think last year I also got honey bees foraging on rice flowers (another flower to process).  Two crops are grown in my home town and this is the second crop.

 

19. The same day. After I shot my brother (no, not with a gun:) I went to another field to see if I can see bees foraging on sesame...SUccess!  I saw Apis cerana foraging on the flowers.

 
20. July 25. Farmers drying goji berries near Guyuan, Ningxia. I saw some flowers left on the bushes but largely fruits because most of the blooming would be in May. I have previously posted photos of bees foraging on this flower from my own garden.

 
  21. July 25. 枸杞比俺家的大了一倍。 很甜。 可以当水果生吃。

 22. July 28. A statue of Buddha in the Xumi (须弥） mountain, Ningxia Province. One nun was keeping Apis ceranae colonies near this place.  The area is quite dry and perhaps keeping Apis mellifera will be a challenge.
 
23. July 30. Apis cerana colonies in front of a house, Ningxia Province.

24. July 30. Apis mellifera foraging on a sainfoin (Onobrychis, Fabaceae) flower. The flowers are really pretty! I was told Western US also grows this plant as a nitrogen fixer as well as for cattle feed, but I have wanted to see this flower for a long time after seeing pictures of it in the internet.意蜂采红豆草。



25. 中蜂采密花香薷。贼漂亮啊！

26. 胡麻， 第一次看到满山的花。 当然一定要等蜜蜂的。六盘山附近。 当时选择不去看红色东西， 坚持找小蜜。

27. 顺便去了西安， 看看那些土做的士兵。