Amegilla: Blue-banded Bee

I’m still not having much luck with getting the Nikon to focus in time on this bee – the perfect reminder why I need to know how to deal with manual settings.

The blue-banded bee is a solitary bee. After the female has mated, she makes her nest and raises the young herself. She tunnels into the ground or into mud brick. They are in all Australian States except Tasmania.

I love the metallic blue furry stripes!

All adult blue-banded bees die with the onset of cold weather. The young and juveniles stay in the nests until the warmer months when they will fly (October – April).

The adult is 11mm long and they are not aggressive. Their sting is mild.

(Nikon D3000, on auto)

Thanks for looking.

Bees & Bugs

Blue-banded Bee

I’m thrilled to see the return of this solitary bee to my garden again. He is a zippy bee and rarely stays still, but I do fluke a decent photo now and then. Today, he was up high in the jasmine and I was surprised the images came out as good as they did. I do use the finest and largest setting so I can crop small areas out.

his blue bands are striking

Ready to dive in, legs tucked

while feeding, it bunches into a ball

legs dangling

Images from the Nikon D3000 SLR. The featured image was taken yesterday on a different auto setting to today. After locking my shutter up last time, I’m hesitant to mess about with the individual settings. Eventually, I’ll ease into it.

Today, December first, is the first day of our summer.

Thanks for looking. 🙂

Bees & Bugs