|
|
Valley
carpenter bees are most
often called "black bumble bees". This is a female, she is
completely black in color, the yellow on her back is pollen.
As
the bee gathers nectar from
this passion flower,
the flower dabs pollen on her back. At the next flower some of
the pollen will be rubbed off by the stigma, on the end of the purple
arm.
The
male carpenter bee is yellow.
I was not able to figure out why he was hovering in this spot.
He would hover a while, leave, then return to hover again and
again.
This
pile of fine white powder is
an indication that a carpenter bee has busy somewhere above. It
is the "saw dust" from the excavation of a nest tunnel in dead wood.
Here
is the opening of a
carpenter bee's tunnel in a dead branch of a violet trumpet vine
on the back
wall. I have watched as one bee worked on a tunnel in a log of
firewood.
[Taxonomy :
Classification ]
[Insects
] [Back
Yard
Biology ]
[Science Can Be Fun ]