Another Leafcutter but on a Chocolate Daisy

Very different look at the same (species of) bee as yesterday. Great face. And that mustache. Looks like a baleen, almost. One of my favorite bees. Don’t know if I like the flowers or not. They bloom early in the day and are often closed up by the time I get to shooting. And they get ratty-looking pretty quickly. But they smell good in the morning. And really broadcast the scent.

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Great Look at a Leafcutter on the Blanket Flower

Just another solid shot. Such a good look at that fuzzy little critter. And if you don’t know what I think of blanket flowers, you’ve not been paying attention. Such fun detail all around in this pic. Also – get some of these flowers for your gardens. I’ll bet you’ll love them, too.

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Another on the Partridge Feather

Teeny, teeny sweat bee on the partridge feather. It’s a neat plant itself. Low to the ground, but it does something with its leaves or “feathers” that makes it look like there is dew or crystals on it throughout the day. Neat ground cover that isn’t very thirsty. Not my favorite because it only blooms once and I don’t see many bees on it. But that’s not the only criterion for putting it in the garden.

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Tiny Sweat Bee on a Penstemmon

Most of the time when I shoot on penstemmons, I get bumblebeebutt. But (ha!) here’s a fun shot of a little black sweat bee (I’m really not sure about that at all, btw…I’m really bad at IDs) and some neat depth on the penstemmon blossoms.

Note the three eyes on the top of her head (occeli) as well as her little toes hanging onto the flower. Fun shot and great bee.

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Little Sweat Bee in the Partridge Feather

This plant kind of bugs me. There are bees on it sometimes, but not all that often. Usually when I see movement on it, I get excited and hopeful – only to find a hoverfly or two. Not that there’s anything wrong with those critters (well, there is – these particular ones eat the daffodil bulbs), but I prefer to shoot bees.

But now and then, I’ll get a good shot on it. Good looking sweat bee.

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Metallic Green on a Sunflower

Pre-sunrise (before it crested the mountain) shot of a metallic green sweat bee getting ready to leave a sunflower. Love their eyes. And the green with the neat reds and yellows of the sunflower. So amazing and complex. And this one was just covered with pollen, too – though you cannot see it in this particular shot.

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Territorial Leafcutter

I used to post the pics first and then the narrative. I think I’ll go back to that. Don’t know why I changed it. So…narrative under the pic on this one.

The bumble was minding her own business there on the cone flower. That blurry leafcutter decided to knock her off. Didn’t even move her. When they hit each other or honeybees, normally the one who got hit flies off. Not the case with the big bumbles. They just seem to shrug it off and keep going. Kind of a messy shot, but it’s pretty dynamic. Wish it were about 1/10th of a second later, though. Just before impact.

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