Bumblebee Pollinates Japanese Big Thistle Flowers

A worker of bumblebee (Bombus diversus diversus, family Apidae) visiting purple flowers of Japanese big thistle (aka “To-ne” thistle; Cirsium nipponicum var. incomptum, family Asteraceae) by the roadside at the foot of a mountain for nectar and pollen. Note that the corbiculae on her hindlegs were fully loaded with white pollen. Captured in the cloudy afternoon (around 14:25 PM) of early-October 2024 in Japan. For a full story (text in Japanese); https://sigma-nature-vlog.blogspot.com/2026/01/blog-post_24.html