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While most taxonomists are reluctant to identify a species without a physical specimen under a microscope, at least one expert believes this solitary leaf-chewing bee is Hoplitis spoliata.
The green bee-eater (Merops orientalis), also known as little green bee-eater, is a near passerine bird in the bee-eater family. It is resident but prone to seasonal movements and is found widely distributed across sub-Saharan Africa from Senegal and the Gambia to Ethiopia, the Nile valley, western Arabia and Asia through India to Vietnam. They are mainly insect eaters and they are found in grassland, thin scrub and forest often quite far from water. Several regional plumage variations are known and several subspecies have been named.
Like other species in the genus, bee-eaters predominantly eat insects, especially bees, wasps and ants, which are caught in the air by sorties from an open perch. Before swallowing prey, a bee-eater removes stings and breaks the exoskeleton of the prey by repeatedly thrashing it on the perch. Migration is not known but they make seasonal movements in response to rainfall. These birds are somewhat sluggish in the mornings and may be found huddled next to each other on wires sometimes with their bills tucked in their backs well after sunrise. They sand-bathe more frequently than other bee-eater species and will sometimes bathe in water by dipping into water in flight. They are usually seen in small groups and often roost communally in large numbers (200-300). The birds move excitedly at the roost site and call loudly, often explosively dispersing before settling back to the roost tree.[12] The little green bee-eater is also becoming common in urban and sub-urban neighborhoods, and has been observed perching on television antennae, only to launch into a brief, zig-zag flight formation to catch an insect, then return to the same perch and consume the meal. This behaviour is generally observed between the hours of 7:00 and 8:00am, and after 4:00pm.
The breeding season is from March to June. Unlike many bee-eaters, these are often solitary nesters, making a tunnel in a sandy bank. The breeding pairs are often joined by helpers. They nest in hollows in vertical mud banks. The nest tunnel that they construct can run as much as 5 feet long and the 3-5 eggs are laid on the bare ground in the cavity at the end of the tunnel. The eggs are very spherical and glossy white. Clutch size varies with rainfall and insect food density. Both sexes incubate. The eggs hatch asynchronously with an incubation period of about 14 days and the chicks grow fledge in 3 to 4 weeks and in the fledging stage show a reduction in body weight.
Bee collecting nectar in my back garden.
Olympus E620
Zuiko 35mm lens
F6.2 @ 1/200 secons exposure
ISO 100
WB Auto
I had totally forgotten that I had taken this picture. I took it on the same afternoon as the other bee-picture, yet somehow this one got off my radar...
I used an SB-700 strobe positioned in the top-left corner.
Best viewed large on black - Press 'L'
A bee buzzing around a beet. Reminds me of the glory days of the Edible Roots Crew, if they had a bee.
(This was at East Bay Spice Company.)
Bee on Bombus_Gaillardia.
Donated by Laura Russo to NetworkBees
for the "Photos of Plants Good for Bees" project. Photo taken in Rock Springs, Pennsylvania
which is part of the Central Appalachian Broadleaf Forest Ecoregion that includes
the states of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and parts of
Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.
Attempting to take shots of bees in the garden with a Canon 18-200 lens with a 20mm Kenko extension tube attached.
My neighbor had a bee hive and was cleaning it out for spring so I took the opportunity to grab some photos of the cell structure. I love the structure and varying colors that were present - this was a big surprise to me.