"You Won't See Me"

 As I get older, I am realizing I cannot eat like I did when I was 60. Lately I have been suffering some stomach issues which makes me stay around home a lot. Since I have not been going out as much, the good news is I have been spending more time doing both inside chores and outside yard care. The bad news is I have also been spending too much time watching TV and not getting the exercise I need. 

One show I watched recently was the "Secrets of the Bees" on National Geographic. The first two episodes were wonderful so I checked to see how many more episodes there will be. Sadly, two was all she wrote. But I did learn a lot about bees.

As I was mowing my front yard, it was hard to not notice all the bees on the bottlebrush tree I have had since moving in 42 years ago. I know the bees were thinking "You Won't See Me", but I got out my Canon camera and took some photographs. I was amazed at how much is going on within 15 feet of my front door.

The bottlebrush tree, native to Australia, is also where I hang my birdfeeder.

As I walked out my front door with the camera, a lizard was hiding among the flower box where most of my orchids are. I think he was looking for a female because he was doing his dance...

Yup, honey bees were busy collecting nectar and spreading pollen on the bottlebrush shrub. (I looked up the plant and found that it is actually classified as a shrub and not a tree.)

The bees were getting down deep into the flowers. It kind of looks like a shag carpet.

Hey, that's not a bee....I had to look it up. (I use Google Lens)

It is a red-banded hairstreak (Calycopis cecrops), a butterfly native to the southeastern United States. It has a false "head" (on the right top) that helps it avoid predators. It's real head is down into the flower, you can see the antennae. This was actually my first photo of this species.

Do Mockingbirds eat bees or butterflies? Not sure but I think he was here for the bird food.

Surprisingly, there was some kind of fly on the flowers.

Some of the flowers had two or more bees at a time...

There was even a Bumble Bee, another great pollinator.

In the flower box by my entryway, I have some wild flowers growing. Another honey bee.

At the end of my porch, I have planted Confederate Jasmine. It is in full bloom now and the bees were there too. These flowers smell real nice.

Another Bumble Bee, enjoying the Jasmine.

Man, he was hanging on hard to that Jasmine flower...

I need to learn to widen the angle if I want a shot of the bees in flight. When not on the flower, they move around very quickly.

I also got a visit from a Blue Jay. Interested in the bird food.

Female house finch...you can see a honey bee just above it.

I guess the bees are not attracted by the petals...Boy, is it digging in deep...

My dad Harold gave me the cat in the background back in the 1980s. Hard to believe that he died in 1991. The tail of the cat is an air plant, the bloom is in the lower right, out of frame. They look fake...

This fisherman was doing something strange behind my house. He was probably thinking "You Won't See Me". But I did, I took this from my bedroom. Apparently, whatever he was dumping, was highly regarded by the pelicans as a delight.

All the pictures in this Post were taken over just 20 minutes. It is amazing what is around, if you just spend the time to look.

About Title

Listen to Song

"You Won't See Me" is a song originally recorded by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1965 album Rubber Soul. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The lyrics address McCartney's troubled relationship with Jane Asher and her desire to pursue her career as a stage and film actress. 

The Beatles' version of the track was not issued as a single, and the charting version of "You Won't See Me" was a 1974 recording of the song by Anne Murray. This version reached number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 1 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart. It also hit number 5 in Canada.