A Photographer Comes Upon a Pair of Sleepy Bees Snoozing in the Middle of a Flower

Have you ever considered how or when insects sleep? You may not have given it much consideration because they are around at all hours of the day. However, as wildlife photographer Joe Neely demonstrates, bees do sleep. He took a cute shot of two globe mallow bees resting in a bright globe mallow blossom. The pollen-covered critters are nestled together in the heart of the orange-crimson flower in a picture-perfect sight.

Neely happened upon the two bees by chance. “It was April, so my wife Niccole and I (both ardent nature photographers) went out in quest of Mexican poppy blossoms, but the fields were deserted,” he explains to My Modern Met. They eventually came across a flower grove on the side of the road and stopped to take pictures. “While seeking for the right flower, Nicole observed several bees within one of the orange globe mallow blossoms.” I dashed over and watched them for several minutes, even though it was after dusk.”

More bees were climbing inside the blossoms as Neely and his wife observed. “Shortly after,” he says, “every blossom on the plant had an unmoving resident in it.” They were about to retire for the night. I’ve never seen anything like this before. Then, as the sun sank, one final bee was desperately trying to locate his own flower, but they were all gone, so he snuggled into petals with this other bee, who shuffled a bit to make room.”

Neely promptly grabbed out his macro photography equipment and snapped a couple images after realizing he had the perfect shot. “The contrast between their blue eyes and the orange blooms was stunning.” We didn’t learn anything about them until we came home, and their peculiar habit of sleeping in globe mallow blossoms.” Some bees spend the night in their hives, but this species is frequently observed resting in the flower that bears their name. And, as Neely demonstrates, it can be done with a friend.