Bees

Everyone is discussing the disappearing honeybees. This article was in the Washington Post the other day. (registration required).

In my garden, I most often see a type of solitary bee whose name I don't know. I call them the nano-technology bees because of the way they hover around flowers making very geometric turns around the blossoms. The look as though they are tiny helicopters filming something inside. They are about the size of a honeybee, maybe a bit larger, and shiny-plastic looking, not fuzzy.

They are currently enjoying my digitalis and even fighting each other in the air around the plants similar to the way carpenter bees do. I would love to know more about them.

Comments

[A Twitter User]

Looks like maybe a Carpenter Bee? Although carpenter bees are usually mostly black in color - I'm not sure about those yellow markings. Maybe you could look around in wood around your house or in old tree stumps - see if you find any large boring holes.

[Ellen]

Holy crap, that is a terrifying bee.

Although the nano-technology bee thing made me crack up.

[Carolyn]

I'm quite familiar with carpenter bees since they buzz in great numbers around the wooden pergolas at Wave Hill. The nano-bees are much smaller and not as fuzzy.