Like everything this year in this area, a little later than last year, the Leaf Cutter Bees are back.
I am fairly sure I have my facts right here. Some individuals have been hanging around for several days. They look in the holes but mainly fly from one site to another and sit in the sun.
These are the males, short bodied with a hairy head. They are the first to hatch and are waiting near the nest sites for females.
The females arrived today longer bodied and bent on cell building. This year I got a good photograph of one carrying a large piece of leaf.
It is a case of, get into the nest hole as quickly as possible or you get set on by a male. On one occasion a female took a brief rest and during a mid air 'birds and bees' session lost her leaf section that she had worked so hard to cut and transport.
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