I noticed a bumblebee on the ground and in the shade. Here she is in a stand-by position on a bare patch of soil.
Next time she managed to tumble down into the drink. I had to dilute the sweet water so she won't end up sticky. Once the solid ground was under her feet and not the other way around, she made a few circles drinking from it and shook the drops off of her
On the white rock and in the warm sun the bumblebee scratched her belly over the rock surface to remove additional dirt. She is facing to the right in this photo with a middle leg from her other side in the air as she performs more preening.
Now the bumblebee hangs from the side edge of the brown shelf using gravity in further maintenance. As she fell down to the flower pot below I scooped her up again, propping her on a big planter plant. And as I stuck there a flowering branch, her foraging instinct kicked in and she buried her nose in the first pink flower, and before I got back with additional blooming twig she left.
And tired bumblebee in a shaded patch. Got a good sip (after jumping just right in the puddle, so I had to introduce clean water), washed herself thoroughly and once dry left off. #invertebrates #bumblebee 🐝