The Bees Knees

[Salticid]

Male halictid bee on douglas aster. He's about 1 cm long. It's mostly hidden here, but he has an enormously long tongue for his size.

Not a great pic, and not really macro, but it's my favorite yard bug this week. I like the color and the black patches on the knees. Focus isn't as quite bad as I expected considering the wind and the flittiness of the critter. I let the autofocus do it's thing since I was way too slow to do it myself. Not quite a 100% crop. Plus I'm an idiot, and I forgot to switch from jpeg back to raw after doing some low-res stuff. I need to make a checklist, it seems like I always forget something. EF-S 60mm, f8, 1/400, iso 400, no flash.

http://www.pbase.com/salticid/image/66661683/original.jpg

[dpastern]

hehehe Salticid, I've been doing similar errors with my setup cos of this photography course that I'm doing. Pity about being OOF, but I understand the situation and completely forgive you considering. Looks a beautiful Bee, pity we didn't get to see more, see if you can possibly get a better shot for us ;)

Dave

[photobitz]

Wow! What an amazingly colourful insect. Please give us more!!!

[LordV]

Beautiful bee- wish I could find one of these :)
Brian V.

[Salticid]

Looks a beautiful Bee, pity we didn't get to see more, see if you can possibly get a better shot for us ;)

If the asters hang on until next weekend (it's the last patch I have blooming for the year), and the bees too, I may get another shot, but it likely won't be a better shot :-) The darned things just won't stay posed...

[Salticid]

Wow! What an amazingly colourful insect. Please give us more!!!

Thanks! I'd love to find out where the females hang out, they're green all over. But I've only seen males so far, and only a few of them. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they'll still be around next weekend, when I'll have some time again. It should also be cooler and maybe they'll be a little slower :-).

[Salticid]

Beautiful bee- wish I could find one of these :)

I wish you would--then we could have some great pictures of them, focus stacked and in stereo :-)

The metallic green bees are mostly in 4 genera, Agapostemon, Augochlora, Augochloropsis, and Augochlorella. Some of the species are cosmopolitan, so with luck you should have some in your area.

Bee numbers and variety is often limited by available nesting sites, and most bee species, including halictids, are ground nesters. Maybe you could find out what kind of ground your locals like and entice them with that. Sometimes a big planter box with sand or a sand/silt mix will do. Or if you have well drained soil in your garden, clear off some vegetation in a sunny spot. Then cross your fingers!

[Alex Paul]

Beautiful colors.....Alex