Hitching a Ride...

This had to be my blip because it is just so strange. The larger bee is a carpenter (first I've seen this season) and I was chasing it around the flower garden when I realized that there was something very strange about it. Yep, it had another, much smaller bee lodged firmly on it's back. The smaller bee is NOT a carpenter so this isn't mating behavior. The smaller bee stayed lodged on the carpenter's back for several minutes while the carpenter buzzed around gathering pollen, seemingly not bothered by the second bee. Then, a THIRD bee came buzzing in (yet another species) and dislodged the first bee - sending everyone their separate ways. Maybe one of the insect behavior experts can shed some light on this most peculiar behavior?

Great hike this morning with my nature group - our first walk of the new year and it was great fun to catch up with folks after the long, cold winter. We saw some kinglets and gnatcatchers and some early blooming wildflowers - not a big morning in terms of migrants, but fun just the same. The highlight, for me, was seeing my first Spring Azure Butterflies of the season.

When I got back home, our two cherry trees in the backyard had started to bloom and they were covered with bees! I put the 105mm on the D600 and dashed out to side next to one of the trees, happily snapping shots while hundreds of bees buzzed around me. There was a time when I would have been nervous to be right in the thick of so many bees, but now I feel quite safe.

I've posted five other shots from today, starting HERE with a trout-lily and finishing up with a not-quite-focused shot of the carpenter bee being mobbed by the two smaller bees.

Happy Monday. I'm not off to start putting some stain on the deck rails... yuck.

PS: I put a query out to my favorite bug website WhatsThatBug.com about this very odd behavior and here is what their bee expert said...
Looks like a male Andrena mining bee, perhaps trying to chase the male carpenter bee out of its territory?