Cuckoo Bee: A "Kleptoparasite" Atop a Thistle Flower
Macro, Rocky Mountain Front Range, Colorado, July Morning.
I was watching this flower as honey bees and sweat bees came and went. I was surprised to see this larger bee arrive and didn't know what is was. I took a look at bee charts trying to find out what it was. It had a powerful exoskeleton and some fur, but not like bumble bees.
I welcome any bee specialists' comments about this type of bee. If it is a cuckoo bee, such a bee is known to lay its eggs in other bees' dwellings, eat what they've collected, and possibly even kill those bees' larvae and queens.
Cuckoo Bee: A "Kleptoparasite" Atop a Thistle Flower
Macro, Rocky Mountain Front Range, Colorado, July Morning.
I was watching this flower as honey bees and sweat bees came and went. I was surprised to see this larger bee arrive and didn't know what is was. I took a look at bee charts trying to find out what it was. It had a powerful exoskeleton and some fur, but not like bumble bees.
I welcome any bee specialists' comments about this type of bee. If it is a cuckoo bee, such a bee is known to lay its eggs in other bees' dwellings, eat what they've collected, and possibly even kill those bees' larvae and queens.