the females—there seemed to be only a few, maybe only one very popular one—are golden rather than silver, and very slightly broader in build. periodically one saw a little "bee ball" with a female and at least one male rolling around the dusty, sunny slope.
i don't know what family they are—Andrenidae? Colletidae?—anyway, some kind of solitary ground-nesting bee.
Looks like a Western Blue Orchard Mason Bee, Osmia lignaria ssp. propinqua, in the 40+ year old Gravenstein apple tree.
Don't give up on wild urban bees
Some of the smallest & largest visiting
Xylocopa, large Carpenter bee & maybe Ceratina, small Carpenter bee
Unidentified black bee with pollen on the clove currants. North Central Washington State.
Tiny wild bee stretching to get the nectar
May be a Halictus or Lasioglossum. Hard to id, the camera only wanted to focus on the shaggy stamens.
Sometimes things don’t go as planned but, you make a new plan. Working on my (bee propaganda) next print about the future of pollination for Manufactured Ecosystems, I dropped my inked plate with the text and slipped - after completing 9 bees. 
But I didn’t want the original, with all that work to go to waste. 
Andrena haemorrhoa, a mining be. Cambridge, UK, today.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/268734227
#iNaturalist #nativebees #Hymenoptera #entomology
Nomada sp.: first parasitic bee of the season. Technically, a kleptoparasite: robs the nests of other solitary bees and makes them their own. Cambridge, UK.
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/267955253
#iNaturalist #Hymenoptera #nativebees #entomology
Just spent ages watching this handsome lady plugging up the screw recess of my hose reel (a very popular egg laying spot for native bees) to keep her eggs safe 
#GardenTreasures #NativeBees
First mining bee of the season, Andrena sp., leisurely feasting on rosemary flowers. Cambridge, UK.
More solitary bees wake up!
First yellow-faced bee is here (Hylaeus sp.)
The incomparable Ceratina cobaltina, a small carpenter bee from south Texas. #nativebees #bees #Ceratina #insects
I'm almost at a loss for words
In urban SoCal--a bumblebee
I've only seen a bumblebee once in California--at a campground in Angeles National Forest
After this hellish year of everything, nature sends a beacon of diversity & hope
Sadly lacking photos for all of this good news from the natural world, but (1) I saw a woodcock yesterday, for the first time ever! What a lovely and ridiculous bird. (2) My ground-nesting bees have woken up! (3)They are patrolling the red maple, which has finally blossomed.
Fantastic news!!
Native bees have made it thru the drought, windstorm, and firestorm.
I know I saw a Lasioglossum and probably a Halictus
Pics to come 
Want to Save the Bees? Look Down!
"Most native bees nest in the ground, rarely if ever sting, and are tremendously important pollinators. Learn what you can do to help (and to stop inadvertently harming them)."
I just watched this local documentary on #Bees. Some good stuff!
All About Bees
by Sam Droege
December 30, 2024
https://vimeo.com/1042995986
#GardeningForPollinators #Maine #SaveOurPollinators #Nature #NativeBees #SRCTV #CommunityTV
