Masked Bee
Click the pictures for the bigger – and better – version.
Twice this year these bees have presented. They are usually too shy for a shot but circumstances dictate. And then there’s luck, what nature, or what’s it called behind, will …
The one on my finger was rescued from the water, of which there are various locations in the garden. The other landed on top of one of the bee hotels and set to preening itself, out of the way of the passing populace, some of which are predators.
A small window on the life of one of my garden friends. A passing pleasure, watching nature’s delightful little robots.
I bet they age just like me and you.
© Mark Berkery ……. Click on those pictures for a closer look
*
*
Nature's Place 
Brilliant photo!!! Very unusual and clarity is amazing. Fiona
Thanks Fiona.
Fabulous as always!
Thanks Mary.
Thanks for sharing your special moments with the bees. Amelia
Thanks Amelia.
Cracking shots, Mark! These photos really do reveal an amazing looking creature.
Thanks David.
The precision and the definition on that first photo is incredible. The contrast between your finger and the bee works so well!
Thanks Hannah.
Fabulous photos again. I’m curious about your bee hotels if you made them how did you do it?
Thanks Mac. Mine are old wooden posts drilled to accommodate the bees. They are mentioned in a few posts – https://beingmark.com/?s=hotel and have a look here – http://www.sgaonline.org.au/insect-hotels/
Thanks Mark, that site was brilliant. I have made a few insect hotels myself. After something consistently dammed up the end of some spare hose I made a hotel using lengths of hose stuffed into a piece of hollow log. I don’t think they like the suburb though because I haven’t seen any sign of one moving in.
Plastic hose is large diameter, too big for a bee to waste their time and energy filling in. Would probably sweat too. Bees aren’t fools you know. :-)
I’ve tried lots of things the insects pass up.
I used pieces of the plastic hose they were consistently blocking, that’s why I’m surprised they haven’t taken up in the new site. Perhaps they don’t like the concept of many neighbours. I have bamboo, wood etc in other places. It could have been wasps.
I have had a leaf-cutter bee lay in plastic tube, not left out for that reason, but only the once. They often use the folds of rags left lying on a table under shelter. You just never know, but they do have preferences, don’t they.
I have no idea what was using the garden hose but it looked like the end was sealed with a mud plug.
Could have been a mud wasp but unless you see it … speculation.
Awesome photographs! I’ve never seen these kind before. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Lilka.
Very unusual, to me, looking bees. Almost looks as though an artist created them for a movie set. And of course some fantastic photos that let me see what I would otherwise probably never see.
Thanks David, Better than Star Wars costumes? :-)
Much better.
Original …
Wow, Mark! What a beauty!
She is, thanks Cate.
Gorgeous bees! I think Australia has the highest diversity of this family, Colletidae
They are … Oz is a big old place with few people so the nature is relatively untouched. We’ll probably be still going after the northern hemisphere burns, if warming allows.
That would be nice…a refuge
Refuge is a possibility, if only because of geography. It would need some planning. The psychological is another matter – it’s impossible to imagine the end of the world and its effects on the person. This is an interesting article by John Pilger, a fellow that keeps his finger on that pulse – https://independentaustralia.net/article-display/a-world-war-has-begun-break-the-silence,8807