Insect observed on Rosemary bush. Size and shape of a honey bee, but did not stay long on blossom, drove off honey bees and abdomen was yellow with black horizontal stripe and one central vertical one.
Purple Loosestriife is an invasive exotic weed -- often seen roadside, but an agricultural weed in some regions and a major problem in wetlands. This shot was taken for Urtica's Life on the Purple Loosestrife study -- she is a botanist studying its pollinators. I was trying to get these bees. But they were moving pretty fast compared to how long it took my camera to focus, so most of the shots were worthless. This one makes up for all of them, & then some! Looks like we have a good ID on the bee species, courtesy of mizzbee (thanks!): Wool Carder Bee (Anthidium manicatum). That makes it a non-native bee pollinating a non-native plant. And the other pollinator I caught on Purple Loosestrife was a Cabbage White, a non-native butterfly. It'll be interesting to see what the overall results of the Life on the Purple Loosestrife study show. There were 2 of them working a patch a couple of meters square, identical as far as I could tell, & hence I have posted 2 bee photos (although I can't say whether or not they are of the 2 different individuals). I have other photos, if these aren't sufficent to ID the species. Uncropped, because I liked the composition as it was (making my catch doubly lucky) -- view large .
For Urtica's Purple Loosestrife bug study. There were 2 of these bees working a patch a couple of meters square, & hence I have posted 2 bee photos (although I can't say whether or not they are of the 2 different individuals). Thanks to mizzbee for the ID! That makes it a non-native bee pollinating a non-native plant. And the other pollinator I caught on Purple Loosestrife was a Cabbage White, a non-native butterfly. It'll be interesting to see what the overall results of the Life on the Purple Loosestrife study show.