Grand Prize Winner: Bee Balling
Bee Balling by Karine Aigner
Cactus bees in South Texas form a mating ball in front of in front of photographer Karine Aigner’s camera lens. The hubbub began when one female bee emerged from a ground nest and was swarmed by multiple males, eager to shoot their shot.
These mating balls are ephemeral, lasting under a minute, and the phenomenon is rarely observed directly. Mating balls also only happen during a period of a few days each year, when the adult cactus bees come together in large aggregations. To capture this photo, both Aigner and the bees had to get lucky.
But it’s not all fun for the (birds and the) bees. “Mating in the bee balls often takes place on extremely hot, bare ground,” Avery Russell, an entomologist from Missouri State University, told bioGraphic. “Grappling males might risk cooking themselves [to mate].”
