Bees have been plentiful and active in our garden all summer, though almost always moving too quickly for me to photograph. But the other day, when I had my camera conveniently in hand, I noticed that high up on the now-very tall sunflowers, bees were moving ever so slowly. I watched through my telephoto lens as they ambled along, seeming to savour the taste and texture of the dense floral carpet, while sticky pollen grains clung to the hairs on their heads, legs and bellies. It was a moment that I could also savour.
Despite its brevity, it’s taken me a few days to complete this post as I’ve been trying to identify what type of bees they are. I know by the absence of pollen sacs on their back legs that they’re not honeybees. Nor are they chubby enough to be bumblebees, though plenty of those can also be found in our garden. My best semi-educated guess is that they’re likely some species of mason bee, one of the many types of non-colonial “solitary bees” that together make up over 90% of North America’s native bee populations. But I’m far from certain, so if any readers of this post can help clear up my confusion, I’d welcome your comments.
Eye on Environment 
Lovely–same thing happening on our sunflowers too. I’m pretty sure they are mason bees. But even the bumble bees are sluggish on our dahlias by evening! Some just curl up and spend the night.
Hi Rosemary, thanks for the visit and comment. The ones that spend the night are likely males – adult male solitary bees have no hive or colony to return to at night (unlike honeybees or bumbles), and their sole purpose is to mate, so they often hang out on plants overnight, to await the return of the females the next day.
Oh, poor males! But the ones on my older dahlias (so the centres are accessible) are definitely bumblebees, according to my chart.