I am taking a native pollinators class online. I completed the bee section and was instructed to take photos of three different bees in my backyard. Little did I know how much time I was going to spend lurking in the shrubbery taking blurry pictures of bugs. I did find it interesting to see how much was going on in the shrubbery. Above is a honey bee, the only identification I am certain of. The bee is collecting pollen from a Firebush (Hamelia patens)
Another bee, I think it is a Carpenter Bee. Bees, unfortunately are identified by the amount of hair and differences in stripes on their bodies – and most are striped and hairy. This bee is collecting pollen from a Dune Sunflower (Helianthus debilis)
This bee is perhaps a Longhorned bee, because of its long antennae. But, I am not sure. It is however, striped and hairy. Mr. (or Miss) Longhorn here is collecting pollen from a Sweet Almond flower (Aloysia virgata)
A fly I mistook for a green metallic bee. There are green metallics bees in Florida and they are nearly impossible to photograph.
A tiny wasp on a Sweet Begonia flower.
A garden spider waiting on a Gallardia flower for an unsuspecting pollinator.
As for the rest of the garden, we have had 9 inches of rain this week and it is soggy and green.
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The Shrub Queen 
They are not so easy to photograph. It is amazing how many insects are in our yards and I have the feeling that hot climates have a lot more. Are you getting more rain from the storm that’s coming? It is missing us.
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Yes, I was amazed at the diversity despite being in the garden nearly every day and I think you are right about hot climates. We have been getting rain bands from Cristobal for the past couple of days. I finally remembered to turn the irrigation off.
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Lovely photos again. My husband is a beekeeper and says that all bees collecting pollen are female. The females are the workers (no change there then!!) The drones, the male bees just laze about getting fed and then inseminate the queen and are then thrown out of the hive in the Autumn, here in the UK it is October time.
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Thank you, Then there were numerous honey girls out there! There are some beekeepers nearby and we have seen a couple of swarms in my garden.
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Bees are so wonderful to watch and yes you have to be very patient in order to get a clear shot. They are very difficult to identify too! Some aren’t even bees at all but hoverflies, and then there are the cuckoo bees, white or red tailed bumblebees, black honey bees… I have given up IDing them and simply enjoy them!
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I agree with you! After all of that lurking around trying to get the third bee picture I realized i had been starting at Cuckoo bees for quite sometime.
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I love close-ups of pollinators! Thank you. My, in Oregon, carpenter bees are but carpenter bees are solid shiny black and fat. Very fat abdomens! Aggressive too. Oh, they don’t mean it, or follow through, they just hover in your face to chase you away! Very territorial. An online class on native pollinators sounds interesting.
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Thank you, there are carpenter bees like that here and some other kinds. lots of bees! The class is interesting, I think I am too nearsighted to sort out the bees.
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Nine inches – wow! And Cristobal is bringing more? Good thing FL has good drainage or you’d be swimming. 😉
It’s cool that you are studying bees. I only know a few of the 463 bee species in my state, even entomologists have trouble identifying them all!
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Isn’t it fascinating to watch the insects…taking pictures and sharing them on SOS, it has been intere sting, Hope you remain unstung..enjoy this new interest.
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Thank you, the diversity of the insects is what I learned from my lurking, it is quite amazing and mostly honey bees..unstung so far..
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Lovely photos. I am hopeless at identifying bugs and bees! Anither nine inches of rain? Wow! We have had a couple over the last few days. Is it normal for you to get so much rain in June?
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Thanks, I am pretty hopeless so far and just learned the same kind of butterfly can be four different colors depending on sex and season. AHHHH. Our monthly average for June is 7 inches so we are wayyy over.
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Oooh, like stalking.
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Oooh, like stalking.
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yep, stalking insects…
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