Love Among the Green Bees

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I finally got around to planting some cosmos, and almost instantly (like magic!) we had green bees in our garden.

I had spotted a single green bee two years ago, back when we were "stealth gardening" before we officially owned our little house. Even though we didn't have the keys, we'd come over and work on the vine-covered mess that was the back garden. There was just so much to do, and I was so excited about it all.

I kept hoping that we'd see more of these beautiful creatures, but they never came for another visit, until this past week. They probably don't come around until late August, and I must have missed them last year.




These bees are quite small, and very fast-moving. They don't hang around posing for my camera, that's for sure.



If I sit very still, and focus on just one flower, the bees come to me.

There's quite a bit of backyard drama going on. The bee that I assume is the female is going about her business, foraging, while the putative male bombards her.




Forget all that cutesy business about "the birds and the bees." Bee nookie is more like a fly-by mugging. The male tackles the female, and in the blink of an eye he's gone. After the ruckus, she's flat on her back, sprawled across a petal. The "romance" hardly deters her, and she's back at work in no time at all.




Ah, summertime romance...

Comments

Anonymous said…
I love it! I didn't know there WAS such a thing as a green bee, but that explains some crazy looking bugs out in the garden... :)
Kurious Jo said…
Yea, pretty much the same thing happens in the chicken yard. only he has a harem and jumps someone every 10 minutes. {sigh} I guess getting fertilized eggs is good.
Great macro shots!

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