Food for a Nomad - _TNY_1534
Photographing nomad bees is typically a quite frustrating task. These bees parasitise on mining bees and like to patrol very close to the ground in a zig-zag pattern, looking for a unattended mason bee burrow they can sneak down into and lay their own egg in, kind of like a cuckoo does. This means that they aren't bvery much for sitting still which is a shame as they tend tio look very cool with those spotted compound eyes that I really like.
Here however, I honestly couldn't believe my good look as I found a Gooden's nomad bee (Nomada goodeniana) which landed repeatedly on the flowers of the alum root (Heuchera sp.) growing under the AC condenser unit next to my front door. The stops weren't particularily long, but enough for me to dive in with the camera and get a shot or two of it.
It is possible to tell if it is a female or a male by counting the antennae segments and if I have counted correctly. thias one has 12 segments and thus is a female (while males have 13).
Food for a Nomad - _TNY_1534
Photographing nomad bees is typically a quite frustrating task. These bees parasitise on mining bees and like to patrol very close to the ground in a zig-zag pattern, looking for a unattended mason bee burrow they can sneak down into and lay their own egg in, kind of like a cuckoo does. This means that they aren't bvery much for sitting still which is a shame as they tend tio look very cool with those spotted compound eyes that I really like.
Here however, I honestly couldn't believe my good look as I found a Gooden's nomad bee (Nomada goodeniana) which landed repeatedly on the flowers of the alum root (Heuchera sp.) growing under the AC condenser unit next to my front door. The stops weren't particularily long, but enough for me to dive in with the camera and get a shot or two of it.
It is possible to tell if it is a female or a male by counting the antennae segments and if I have counted correctly. thias one has 12 segments and thus is a female (while males have 13).