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My garden was all abuzz this afternoon in the Chocolate Mint- I counted at least 6 species of bees, all getting in each others' way. Often one would chase another off, but the pursued always returned! This one seems too furry to be a typical honeybee (and slightly larger), but marked wrong for a typical bumblebee. Anyone got an ID for me (and a good online ID source I can use)?
Vintage 200mm M42 Clubman Manual/Focus lens was used to take this hand held macro shot. Distance to subject 2 to 3ft.
Had good fun yesterday with miner bees- rather cool day with sunny periods- everytime the sun went in the miner bees could not fly but were keen to warm up on my hands
The bees are in love with my Hot Papaya Coneflower (yes, it is a real thing-- a gorgeous variation of the coneflower). Who could blame them. They are so extraordinary. Don't you want to be in love with something extraordinary??
These tiny bees, no more than 7-8mm long, were enjoying my aubretia flowers. After research, I think it is a small carpenter bee (Ceratina calcarata).
A cuckoo bee (Nomada) drinking nectar. These bees are cleptoparasites: instead of gathering food supplies for their offspring, they lay their eggs on the pollen masses that other bees collect; once they hatch, the larvae often eat any of the host's.
This is the bee I couldn't get a shot of before when feeding. To confirm the ID apparently I needed a shot of the pollen baskets :). Eventually managed this shot of the bee feeding on clover which confirms it as Melitta leporina because of the damp pollen basket.