Waiting for the Right Moment - _TNY_8869
I simply adore the eyes on Nomad bees. The problem with shooting them though is that they, as cleptoparasites on other solitary bees are on an almost constant move to locate a bee burrow to sneak down.
Well, this one (and two other females) were different as they were parked on the ground outside a large (large enough to fit my hand into it) hole under a tree stump.
The explantation I have been given is that this species, the Marsham's nomad bee (Nomada marshamella) often parasitizes on nests of the Trimmer's mining bee (Andrena trimmerana) which is semi-social in that they can share a common entrance hole where each female makes her own nest and this trio was waiting to make a move and go down and replace eggs with their own.
For me this was extremely fortunate as I had an unusal amount of time to creep up closer and take photos and this was the closest I got.
Waiting for the Right Moment - _TNY_8869
I simply adore the eyes on Nomad bees. The problem with shooting them though is that they, as cleptoparasites on other solitary bees are on an almost constant move to locate a bee burrow to sneak down.
Well, this one (and two other females) were different as they were parked on the ground outside a large (large enough to fit my hand into it) hole under a tree stump.
The explantation I have been given is that this species, the Marsham's nomad bee (Nomada marshamella) often parasitizes on nests of the Trimmer's mining bee (Andrena trimmerana) which is semi-social in that they can share a common entrance hole where each female makes her own nest and this trio was waiting to make a move and go down and replace eggs with their own.
For me this was extremely fortunate as I had an unusal amount of time to creep up closer and take photos and this was the closest I got.