Despite this summer’s scorching heat and high humidity, the bees of Green Spring Gardens were busy at work gathering pollen and sipping nectar during a recent visit to the gardens. I’m certainly no expert on bees, but it looks like there are several different varieties in the photos below.
I’m pretty confident that the bee in the final shot is a carpenter bee because its abdomen is bare and shiny, unlike that of the bumblebee, which has a hairy abdomen. If you look closely at that image, you’ll see that this bee appears to be a nectar robber—it is piercing the flower from the side to extract the nectar and thereby is not playing any role in pollinating the flower.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
I know carpenter bees, and leaf-cutter bees, and bumblebees, but the variety of species has been a real revelation. For some reason, the idea that a bee could be a nectar robber tickles me. What could it hurt, for it to carry a little pollen along, just for grins? I like the really tiny insect in your first photo, too.
Truly amazing shots. Although it is winter here in Australia, I haven’t the heart to clear the plants going to seed in my herb garden as they are full of bees (including some tiny native ones).
I am always amazed at the variety of bees and the small native ones are particularly fascinating.
Lovely photos.
Being a carpenter, maybe it will patch up the hole it made. Good thing there are others who use the more conventional approach.