# alternative bee picture



## gun4hire

I found this wild dark bee gathering nectar in the same plant as my bees....leg was full of yellow pollen,,,twice as much as a honey bee and it was the same size of a bee!!!!!

I tried to post in the picture forum ...but I can't..makes me sign in again and that don't work????


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## GA-Mark

Do'nt know about ID on bee. What kind of flowers are those?


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## gun4hire

a form of Salvia---sage

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvia

I forget the exact version


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## seamuswildhoney

are you sure that not a honey bee? I have bees with a black abdomen but the abdomen is shaped slightly different.


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## Joseph Clemens

Nope. Not a honeybee.


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## iwombat

I'd be inclined to say Blue Orchard Bee (BOB), but I don't think they collect pollen on their legs like that. Sure looks like one though.

http://binderboard.com/Solitary_Bees/IMAGES_SB/BlueOrchardBee.jpg


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## gun4hire

sorry about the focus...seems to have a smaller head that the BOB..Hard to tell from picture but it is the exact same size as a "normal" honey bee....never seen one before or since and these salvia flowers attract EVERY other type of pollinator (bumble bee ext.)











gun---who would love to find the home hive----


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## tigger

My understanding is that Orchard Mason Bees collect pollen on their abdomens.

You photo reminds me somewhat of the Miner Bees we have around here, although it's a little darker than I'm accustomed to seeing.


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## Grizbee

Also mason bees (BOB) are generally finished foraging around the end of june and are pupated and in a cocoon at this time of year.... sorry I am no help in the identitiy of this critter, it certainly resembles the Blue Orchard Bee..


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## CentralPAguy

gun4hire said:


> I found this wild dark bee gathering nectar in the same plant as my bees....leg was full of yellow pollen,,,twice as much as a honey bee and it was the same size of a bee!!!!!


Okay, what are you trying to pull -- this looks to me as a Bee with a leg in a full leg cast or maybe it is one of those legwarmers. lol


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## RayMarler

This looks to me like one of those stingless bees. That abdomen looks rather flat and non-pointed to me.


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## Utahbee

Hi, just a comment or two on the bee photo. The bee in question is not a blue orchard bee but something else in a different genus. As mentioned above, blue orchard bees collect pollen on the underside of their abdomens and not on their legs.

The other photo link that was referenced (binderboard) is of an _Osmia_ bee that has been mislabeled on many internet sites as a blue orchard bee. It is actually a photo of _Osmia ribifloris_, a blueberry pollinating bee, that appeared on the cover of Agricultural Research magazine several years ago. That species is similar to the blue orchard bee, _O. lignaria_, but side by side comparisons show several differences.


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## rkr

I have them here in Mo. not sure what they are though.
RKR


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