Digger Bees

[AeroPhotographer]

I posted some of this species 3 years ago, not knowing what it was. Now I'm pretty sure these are digger bees. They lay eggs in a hole in the ground around the end of May here in Northern California. The eggs hatch almost a year later and full grown bees emerge around May first. In a normal year they are as plentiful as honey bees. They are also the same size as honey bees, but very fast with very short dwell times on a flower. This year I've only seen a dozen all May.

My daughter calls them chinchilla bees

Have you ever seen these bees?

 

[jim mij]

Interesting bees

there is a sandy path nearby where they live, it’s fun to walk through as they buzz about the ground, never managed a pic though

 

[ASR45]

Great set of images.