“Ma’am, yes you’re being very thorough, but those flowers are all dry and empty, the bush filled with fresh ones is right above you. Ma’am?” [Alameda, CA 12-5-25] #bees #bumblebees #nativebees

Ma’am, you can’t just sit there in people’s driveways, it’s not safe, even for royalty. [Alameda, CA 12-2-25] #bees #bumblebees #nativebees

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

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

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

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

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

🎼 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

#bees #bumblebees #nativebees

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

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

"Aw, Damselflies are so delicate and charming!" "You mean the beasts of the hunt that snatch you from mid-air and eat you alive head first?" "...that's the ones." [Oakland, CA 8-30-25] #entomology #macro #odonata

The smallest bees also have appropriately proportioned infinitesimal phoretic mites. Look closely at this male Hylaeus bee's left eye. No verdict on whether the mites get shinier as they get smaller. This one is very shiny. [Oakland, CA 7-6-25] #bees #nativebees

Meanwhile on the island we are also winding down to a few elderly males and the occasional female Longhorn bee. You can see this veteran’s age from all the hair loss and his ragged wing edges. [Alameda, CA 8-28-25] #bees #nativebees

Longhorn season is winding down. Just one foraging female in the Cosmo patch and one in the sunflower patch this morning on my walk to work. [Berkeley, CA 8-27-25] #bees #nativebees

“He’s right behind me, isn’t he?” Yes, these are crappy phone photos, but just hum the Jaws musical cue and think of it as cinéma vérité. [Patrolling Western Leafcutter male creeping up on Melissodes longhorn female bee. Alameda, CA 8-25-25] #bees #nativebees

Forever jealous of bees' vastly superior back-scratching capabilities. [Lasioglossum kincaidii, Alameda, CA 8-16-25] #bees #nativebees

Digging a nest in soft sand is pretty close to trying to make a hole in water, so it’s not a surprise Bembix wasps dig lightning fast and keep testing dozens of spots before they’re satisfied. [Alameda, CA 8-16-25] #entomology #wasps

A blister beetle in the genus Nemognatha. The name means "thread jaw" because of that long nectar-drinking tube. They lay eggs on flower heads, then the larvae grab onto the legs of visiting bees and eat everything in their nests. [Alameda, CA 8-16-25] #beetles #bees #nativebees

Bee taxonomy treatises tell you “You see them curling, they Halictus”. I don’t consciously use that diagnostic but this Halictus tripartitus provided a textbook performance. They do love curling. (Not the sport. That I know of.) [Alameda, CA 8-15-25] #bees #nativebees

This unusually friendly male Foothill Carpenter Bee helpfully cooperated to provide these unusually close and clear views of nectar robbing. [Alameda, CA 5-23-25] #bees #nativebees

Just two remaining male longhorn bees at the Cosmo patch on my walk to work this morning. [Berkeley, CA 8-13-25] #bees #nativebees

Tree Aeonium is popular with gardeners and native bees, especially when flowering while hardly anything else does. When even it is mostly spent, if you look closely, you'll see enterprising bees trying to pry open closed flower buds... [Alameda, CA 6-6-25] #bees #nativebees

"Sure, carrying pollen on your legs is fine and all but hear me out-" [Lasioglossum kincaidii, Alameda, CA 5-10-25] #bees #nativebees

Speaking of Phacelia, navigating those extra long filaments to harvest the anthers is also a jungle for mid-sized bees, like this Agapostemon subtilior. [Alameda, CA 5-4-25] #bees #nativebees

Their season is over now, but here's a flashback to the entertainment the Phacelia Jungle provides every year. When you're small enough going up the filaments to get to the anthers is like climbing tree trunks, the this Dialictus bee story. [Alameda, CA 6-7-25] #bees #nativebees

Still Very Sure Wasps Pollinate, The Sequel. Featuring Philanthus Bee Wolf and Oxybelus Uniglumis, the fly huntress. All pollinators love buckwheat (well, maybe not hummingbirds and bats), but it's especially great for wasp watching. [Alameda, CA 6-28-2025] #entomology #macro #wasps #pollinators

Silent movie getting played back at the wrong frame rate? Nope, this is her actual foraging speed. Agapostemon subtilior don’t play around. [Alameda, CA 7-31-25] #bees #nativebees

While we are doing morning bee news coverage, concluding with this male who suspects his brothers have gone soft, glamping in their cushy complete flowers. He’s more of a sleeping under a tarp on a string camping type. [Melissodes male, Berkeley, CA 7-30-25] #bees #nativebees

Also notable from this morning, these two little runts of the litter, warranting highly scientific thumbparisons. I managed to restrain myself from putting them on my thumb - they’re small, they needed their sleep. [Melissodes male bees, Berkeley, CA 7-30-25] #bees #nativebees

On my walk to work this morning, still lots of sleeping longhorn males in their usual spot. And that one female that likes overnighting with her brothers is still at it. [Berkeley, CA 7-30-25] #bees #nativebees

Sometimes there are so few plants in bloom that you get bee traffic jams. Still, these three did not panic, especially that Agapostemon casually shooing away the much larger Leafcutter while the little Carpenter hovered, waiting her turn. [Alameda, CA 6-28-25] #bees #nativebees

Halictus tripartitus males are so rare in Southern California that there's a theory the females must be reproducing by parthenogenesis. We do see them regularly up here, but this yard had so many that they had to share flowers. Twins! [Alameda, CA 5-25-25] #bees #nativebees

I almost never see bees holding onto plant stems with their mandibles to sleep because I go looking for them when they’re most active. But here is a Nomada bee holding onto a Grindelia petal when the afternoon turned windier and chillier than expected. [Alameda, CA 7-20-25] #bees #nativebees

When you're minding your own business and suddenly Godzilla rolls through town. I'm pretty sure that was just the downwash from his wings that blew her over. [Small Carpenter bee female vs male Western Leafcutter bee on turf patrol, Alameda, CA 7-12-25] #bees #nativebees

Sure, having extra long sniffing sticks sounds like tons of fun, but then it gets windy, and suddenly it’s more antennas, more problems as they get batted around. [Halictus tripartitus male, Alameda, CA 7-20-25] #bees #nativebees