Hella Bee Nerd

Comparing a Western Pygmy Blue butterfly to the size of my thumbnail... for Science!

Segue to that Pygmy Blue video - a highly scientific ThumbParison for scale. It's not the greatest composition, but it is quite difficult to creep up your thumb to them. They don't appreciate it, and it's hard to get the focus plane right... [Alameda, CA 11-8-25] #butterflies

Western Pygmy Blue, America’s smallest butterfly and one of the world’s smallest. About the size of a thumbnail. [Alameda, CA 11-8-25] #butterflies

A black carpenter bee in my hand, doing a bit of grooming.

A black carpenter bee in my hand.

A black carpenter bee in my hand.

A black carpenter bee in my hand, starting to take off.

Ma’am, you can’t just wander the sidewalk like that. Most people pay no attention to where they’re stepping. [Foothill carpenter bee, Alameda, CA 11-4-25] #bees #nativebees

A male longhorn bee approaching another on a white flower.

A male longhorn bee approaching another on a white flower.

The male longhorn bee getting approached has lifted his back left leg in the traditional bee shooing away gesture.

The rejected male longhorn is moving away.

Usually one sees female bees shooing away other male or female bees with the traditional leg swipe, so it was notably bemusing to see a male longhorn bee use it on another male. I'm pretty sure this is the only time I've seen that. [Alameda, CA 8-16-25] #bees #nativebees

A green eyed black and yellow Nomada cuckoo bee perched on the tip of my index finger. There's a fine sprinkling of yellow pollen all over her.

In moderately Halloween-appropriate content, this Nomada bee that never takes off her wasp costume. Hey, you gotta appreciate their commitment to the bit... [Alameda, CA 7-20-25] #bees #nativebees

Ever see a complete bee grooming routine up close? I’m not saying this Agapostemon subtilior female and I are heroes, but we are here to help. Enjoy this quality motion picture, complete with PG&E construction noises for that true California flavor. [Alameda, CA 10-27-25] #bees #nativebees

A pair of European wool carder bees mating on a Aeonium arboreum plant flower. The female is is stroking the male's feathery forelegs that he's holding on top of her head.

A pair of European wool carder bees mating on a Aeonium arboreum plant flower. The female is is stroking the male's feathery forelegs that he's holding on top of her head.

A pair of European wool carder bees mating on a Aeonium arboreum plant flower. The female is is stroking the male's feathery forelegs that he's holding on top of her head.

A pair of European wool carder bees mating on a Aeonium arboreum plant flower. The female is is stroking the male's feathery forelegs that he's holding on top of her head.

Here's an uncommonly clear view of Anthidium manicatum (European wool carder bee) mating interaction. You can see how the female positions her wings safely out of the way, and how she's interacting with the male's feathery forelegs. [5-24-25] #bees #nativebees

“Look, it’s easy protein, no chasing needed!” - wasp trying to convince a bunch of others to follow it down the bee road, 125 million years ago.

🎼 Tongue shadow, tongue shadow- 🎶 Watch this little male Zadontomerus carpenter bee perform an elaborate nectar-probing routine in a rock purslane flower. [Alameda, CA 10-21-25] #bees #nativebees

A small green metallic Dialictus female bee on a pink and white flower with just a bit of sunlight illuminating it in a dramatic way.

A small green metallic Dialictus female bee on a pink and white flower with just a bit of sunlight illuminating it in a dramatic way.

A small green metallic Dialictus female bee on a pink and white flower with just a bit of sunlight illuminating it in a dramatic way.

Sure, you can use fill flash to have perfectly shadowless macro photos. But where's the Dialictus Drama? Where's the Theater? Bees prefer it theatrical, I'm pretty sure. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ [Alameda, CA 5-29-25] #bees #nativebees

A female Mason bee is foraging on a yellow wooly sunflower flower. A jumping spider is looking at her, doing some hunting math.

The jumping spider has decided the bee is too much and has turned away.

The jumping spider has turned back toward the bee, thinking it over again.

On the one hand, this jumping spider was a bit lacking in ambition, deciding this female Osmia bee was too much to try and take down. On the other hand, there was a moment of "Weeeeel, maaaaaybe-" in there... [Alameda, CA 6-7-25] #bees #nativebees #spiders

A yellow and black Nomada bee flying by a larger gray and black Coelioxys female bee that is nectaring on a magenta colored flower with yellow/orange pollen sprinkled about.

Cuckoo vs Cuckoo... the cuckooning? A Nomada bee (perhaps a male, from the looks of the slightly longer sniffing sticks) flies by a Coelioxys bee female (easy to tell from the one large spike on the abdomen vs several small ones males have). [Alameda, CA 6-7-25] #bees #nativebees

Agapostemon are terrible at mating (they still get it done - must be sheer numbers), but they are very, very thorough foragers. [Alameda, CA 10-3-25] #bees #nativebees

😛

I’m assuming this is being territorial, but this is pretty much how they attempt mating as well. I am honestly amazed at how ubiquitous Agapostemon are around here because I’ve never seen a successful mating in hundreds of clumsy attempts. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Unedited version.

When you’re just trying to groom but it’s a rough neighborhood. Presented in scientifically applied SloMoVision. [Leafcutter male aka Mittens vs Agapostemon subtilior male, Alameda, CA 10-7-25] #bees #nativebees

It’s surprising how seldom I see European wool carder bees mating considering how ubiquitous they are around here. But I have seen it more often than usual this year. [Alameda, CA 10-5-25] #bees #nativebees

Soldier ants don’t play around. 🐜

Sometimes it is your larvae that are the soil predator. Sometimes another relentless soil predator decides to hunt you and it’s quite the nuisance. Stiletto fly vs ant: the reckoning. [Alameda, CA 10-3-25] #flies #diptera #entomology #ants

I was away out of state for a few weeks (and the end of Summer bee season), but I was greeted by a few holdouts when I got back, like this Western Leaf Cutter female, still getting it done with her one remaining sniffing stick. [Alameda, CA 9-30-25] #bees #nativebees

A Variegated Meadowhawk (left) and Flame Skimmer (right) perching on the same dried plant branch in the grass, facing each other, with green pond in the background.

A Variegated Meadowhawk and Flame Skimmer perching on dried plant branches near each other, facing the same direction away from us, with green pond in the background.

Close up of Variegated Meadowhawk perching on a long curved blade of grass, with green pond in the background.

Flame Skimmer perching on dried bush branch, with more branches and blue pond water in the background. You can see from a nick in the right front wing it's the same individual from the other photos.

I love dragonflies, even though it is always so frustrating trying to photograph them. But eventually with enough patience you can catch fun scenes like "Variegated Meadowhawk and Flame Skimmer are friends". [Alameda, CA 9-14-25] #dragonfly #dragonflies

An elderly male Longhorn bee on a yellow sunflower. You can tell his age from the impressive amount of hair loss and ragged wing edges.

An elderly male Longhorn bee on a yellow sunflower. You can tell his age from the impressive amount of hair loss and ragged wing edges.

An elderly male Longhorn bee on a yellow sunflower. You can tell his age from the impressive amount of hair loss and ragged wing edges.

An elderly male Longhorn bee on a yellow sunflower. You can tell his age from the impressive amount of hair loss and ragged wing edges.

Speaking of the end of Longhorn bee season, here is the most impressively elderly male I've yet seen. An amazing amount of hair loss considering they never go into nests, which is how females lose their hairs (hole/tunnel friction). [Alameda, CA 8-16-25] #bees #nativebees

Head-banging bumble bees bite flowers to shake loose more pollen Slow-motion videos reveal how chomping down on flowers helps buzzing bees transmit vibrations

#bees #bumblebees #nativebees

Gray female Andrena bee inside orange California Poppy flower... scratching her head with both front legs. Well of course she's grooming, but "scratching" works much better for the punchline.

The species identity of these gray Andrena bees that reliably fill the local California Poppies every year in April remains a head-scratcher. Double head-scratcher, according to this one. [Alameda, CA 4-26-25] #bees #nativebees

Like other bee nerds around here, I have had unusually few Hylaeus bee sightings this year. There’s no obvious explanation so far. And yes, that’s a Agapostemon subtilior flyby - many sightings of them this year, as usual. [Alameda, CA 9-9-25] #bees #nativebees

Sphex lucae capture a katydid or grasshopper, paralyze it, drag it into a hole, lay a single egg on it and then close the nest. Then they dig another and repeat the process. Most solitary wasps prefer this method (preferred prey varies).

Some wasps like Bembix wasps do something called “progressive provisioning”, which is bringing their larvae more prey food as needed, but that is very laborious and therefore rare.

Usually I see wasps digging nests or going into an existing nest, so it was a fun surprise to see this Sphex lucae engaging in some very different nest related work. [Alameda, CA 9-8-25] #entomology #wasps

Ceratina small carpenter bee mating is a more complicated activity than I realized before recording this. Many bees do antenna stroking but note he’s also grabbed her back legs with his and is rapidly stroking them with his middle legs. A lot to keep track of. [Oakland, CA 9-1-25] #bees #nativebees