Images

Jackson County, South Dakota, Badlands National Park

Jackson County, South Dakota, Badlands National Park

Andrena confederata - A male of this uncommon species found in Calvert County and photographed by Dejen Mengis.

Andrena confederata - A male of this uncommon species found in Calvert County and photographed by Dejen Mengis.

Go to the woods in the Eastern United States, find a blooming Rhododendron, look for this bee, it specializes Rhodos and Azalea pollen for its babies. Collected in Giles County (probably on a Rhododendron) by Barbara Abraham's students at Mountain Lake Biological Station.

Go to the woods in the Eastern United States, find a blooming Rhododendron, look for this bee, it specializes Rhodos and Azalea pollen for its babies. Collected in Giles County (probably on a Rhododendron) by Barbara Abraham's students at Mountain Lake Biological Station.

Leadplant lover. This bee species is a pollen specialist on Amorpha and was collected in Badlands National Park of South Dakota. Photographed by interns Joyce and ColbyCanon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200, link to a .pdf of our set up is located in our profile

Andrena cragini, male, new species record for South Dakota from Badlands National Park as part of a park wide inventory, this small Andrena species appears to be a Leadplant pollen specialist, Joyce, Colby, and Amber

A very common bee in our region. It can be found in almost any spring habitat from woods to yards.

Andrena cressonii - Common, shows up almost everywhere in the spring. Secret identification tip of the day: There is a raised line slanting across the pronotal collar that is usually visible from one side of there other (depending on how the head is cocked). As you go west the legs tend to get very orange...is it a different species?

Another photograph of the very common Andrena cressonii, captured right here in Prince George's County, and photographed by Erick Hernandez.

Andrena cressonii - Common, shows up almost everywhere in the spring. Secret identification tip of the day: There is a raised line slanting across the pronotal collar that is usually visible from one side of there other (depending on how the head is cocked). As you go west the legs tend to get very orange...is it a different species?

Male Andrena cressonii from Dorchester County, Maryland

One of the most common Andrena in the East, as well as throughout the US and southern Canada. Here we have the male of Andrena cressonii. This species shows up across many habitats, weedy, wooded, agricultural, lawns, suburbs, and wildlands.

This is a west coast Andrena....found, in this case, in Redwoods National Park right along the coast. I hope to get some more shots of the back and sides which have lovely patches of green hairs, an unusual color for bees in North America.

A bee that feeds its babies a restricted diet. In this case that diet is that of Geranium pollen. While I didn't check this specimen from Virginia those lovely pollen grains on its hind legs are very likely Geranium.

Andrena distans...this girl has been dipping into the wild geranium pollen to feed her babies. Photograph by Dejen Mengis.

A somewhat odd position with its pollen covered (likely geranium pollen) leg out and its head cocked towards us. Photoshopping by Thistle Droege and photograph by Brooke Alexander.

Andrena dunningi. A large dark Andrena. This lovely female, in fresh plumage, is relatively easy to identify simply by the orange brown color of its body hairs along with the nearly black hairs located on its hind legs which it uses to carry pollen to its nest.

Andrena erythronii, female

Know Your Wild Bees Campaign - Andrena female ID...this group can dominate on blooming trees and shrubs in the spring, but smaller numbers occur in the Fall on our composites