To bee or not to bee...

...a native bee? I got excited thinking I had found a New Zealand native bee (one of the 28 species), but is it just a honey bee (apis) with an unusual colouring? It has none of the usual bee colours - it is really very silvery. But it doesn't seem to fit into the native bee groups. And I did see more than one of them, so it wasn't a one off.

I did also see a real, documented native bee, but it flew out of camera reach. 

A kayak trip on the river today meant I could have done a Mono Monday 'distance' shot - of everyone else leaving me behind (in the distance) as I stopped (drifted more like) to take photos... But I liked the bee more.

(If you flick between this shot and yesterday's, you'll see how different the colours are.)