Blue Banded Bee

[kathiemt]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n438145[/ATTACH] Love these bees. Very noisy buzz, solitary bee, has blue stripes. Females have 4, males have 5. This one is a female. They work with buzz pollination.

[eaglem]

Nice shot, see a few now and then but they aren't too common.

[sejac]

Beautiful shot Kathie. Lucky to capture this. Wish I had some in our garden.

You didn't mention that they are an Australian native bee. My partner Elizabeth went to a native bee workshop where she made some bee shelters to try to attract some to our garden. No luck yet.

[kathiemt]

Beautiful shot Kathie. Lucky to capture this. Wish I had some in our garden.

You didn't mention that they are an Australian native bee. My partner Elizabeth went to a native bee workshop where she made some bee shelters to try to attract some to our garden. No luck yet.

Glad you like the shot. Yes, an Australian native bee. I first discovered them about 7 or 8 years ago when I heard a loud buzz that was quite distinctive. Took me days to get even a shot I could put on my computer to ID it. They come back every summer. They love salvias - do you have any in your garden? And are you in the Eastern states? Also they love the spired flowers in ponds - can't remember the name of the plant. I've seen these bees in Yarra Junction at the Blue Lotus Water Gardens as well.

[sejac]

Elizabeth has seen them in our garden in the past, but none this year. I'm from the Adelaide Hills near Stirling.

[Alan]

Nice - I think I have seen them at Wamboin.

You may be able to edit your post to download/include a full size photo having sorted out the process by now?

I still prefer to use Flickr