Mining Bee

Dalantech · Post by **Dalantech** » Sun May 10, 2020 1:47 am

I noticed this Mining Bee cleaning out debris from her nest and camped at the entrance to see if I could get a few photos. Once she decided to come out we played "BeeKaBoo" cause I accidentally scared her back down into the tunnel a few times.

I got a lot more images than just the three posted here, but I was really limited on the angles that I could use (couldn't get level or below the subject), so a lot of the images look very similar. I'll edit and post a few more this winter when all the critters are gone.

Tech Specs: Canon 80D (F11, 1/250, ISO 100) + a Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens (under 2x) + a diffused MT-26EX-RT with a Kaiser adjustable flash shoe on the "A" head (the key), E-TTL metering, -1/3 FEC). This is a single, uncropped, frame taken hand held. In post I used Topaz Denoise AI, Sharpen AI, and Clarity in that order.

Mining Bee by John Kimbler, on Flickr

Mining Bee III by John Kimbler, on Flickr

Mining Bee IV by John Kimbler, on Flickr

AlxndrBrg · Post by **AlxndrBrg** » Tue May 12, 2020 8:10 am

Nice shots, it is however not a mining bee (in the strict sense, that is the english name for the genus Andrena) although it has evidently mined itself a nest - it is a halictid bee, probably Lasioglossum, or perhaps one of the smaller Halictus species

/A

Dalantech · Post by **Dalantech** » Tue May 12, 2020 8:56 am

AlxndrBrg wrote:Nice shots, it is however not a mining bee (in the strict sense, that is the english name for the genus Andrena) although it has evidently mined itself a nest - it is a halictid bee, probably Lasioglossum, or perhaps one of the smaller Halictus species

/A

Thanks!

Due to the markings on the abdomen, and it's size, I think that it is an Andrena. I do have Sweat Bees (Lasioglossum) in my yard, and they are half the size. This is a Sweat Bee, and the magnification is about 2.5x:

Sweat Bee Foraging in a Sourgrass Flower V by John Kimbler, on Flickr

The largest magnification of the images in the OP is 2x, so a pretty significant size difference.

MarkSturtevant · Post by **MarkSturtevant** » Thu May 14, 2020 12:31 pm

Very good! I've had a good emergence of mining bees from a certain place a few weeks ago. Thousands of exit holes, and mini-swarms of males milling about looking for females.

Dalantech · Post by **Dalantech** » Thu May 14, 2020 12:59 pm

MarkSturtevant wrote:Very good! I've had a good emergence of mining bees from a certain place a few weeks ago. Thousands of exit holes, and mini-swarms of males milling about looking for females.

Thanks!

Either that's a Mining Bee, or I have more than one species of Sweat Bee in my yard. Most of the Sweat Bees are about half the size of the critter in the OP though.