Dab! - _TNY_3098
I've seen this behaviour from other specimens as well - but I have no idea what they are doing.
To me, this female European wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum) looks like she's doing the "dab" move which was popular a couple of years back. I doubt Mrs. Bee is doing that though.
Here she is coming in for a landing on a lambs' ears (Stachys byzantina), a plant which is a bit of a favourite for this species as they use plant hairs for their nests and there are few plants with more hair than lamb's ears have.
Over the years, I've gathered about fifty (at the time of posting this) shots of these bees and if you want to see them, I've put them in an album here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/albums/72157667862870066
Dab! - _TNY_3098
I've seen this behaviour from other specimens as well - but I have no idea what they are doing.
To me, this female European wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum) looks like she's doing the "dab" move which was popular a couple of years back. I doubt Mrs. Bee is doing that though.
Here she is coming in for a landing on a lambs' ears (Stachys byzantina), a plant which is a bit of a favourite for this species as they use plant hairs for their nests and there are few plants with more hair than lamb's ears have.
Over the years, I've gathered about fifty (at the time of posting this) shots of these bees and if you want to see them, I've put them in an album here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/albums/72157667862870066