Bee Loaded

This colorful little creature is an Augochlora Green Metallic Bee resting for a moment on a Blue Mist Flower. These small bees can carry an impressive load of pollen on their hind legs as they enter their underground nest. These nests are built in soft, rotting, dead wood or inside the abandoned tunnels of wood-boring insects. The female digs a nest of many branching burrows and then places a pollen ball and nectar in the nest and lays an egg on each ball. The larvae or pupae overwinter and the new adult emerges in the spring.