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Project Noah Nature School
Xylocopa varipuncta
Large, fuzzy yellow bee with green eyes. The female can be seen at my other spotting: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/828...
Cape Honeysuckle in backyard. "The size of carpenter bees prevents them from entering tubelike flowers, instead they cut into the base of the corolla. This is referred to as “stealing the nectar” as it does not result in the bee being able to pollinate the flower. They are helpful in pollinating native plants and shrubs." - Wikipedia
There were two males buzzing around chasing each other off. These were lucky shots as I had to use manual focus! It took a lot of shots to get these :)
Spotted on Mar 9, 2012
Submitted on Mar 9, 2012
2 Comments
Thanks oxyjack! This is the first year I've seen the male but like you, I see the females often.
Nice spotting! The females are common sights in my back yard, but I've yet to spot one of the males!