In my photo studio, I see bats fly to sea bean flowers to fi nd nectar.


Caught in the Act Click, click, click. I take many pictures. A bat flies to a flower and begins to drink the nectar. Long, thin stalks called stamens


grow out of each flower. An anther sits on top of each stamen. Each anther is covered in a sticky dust called pollen. T e anthers fling pollen onto the bat as it drinks. T e bat flies to another sea bean.


Some pollen rubs off onto the second flower’s pistil. T is is how the flower is pollinated. Now, the flower can make seeds and new plants. My photos show why the flowers attract bats, but not how flowers call bats.


Pollen from a bell flower dusts the throat of a bat.


JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2015 11


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24