A Carpenter Bee Hovering in Flight

Denise Greaves, Ph.D.

Carpenter bees can sometimes be found buzzing in bushes growing on the banks of the Robert W. Gross Groundwater Recharge Ponds near Penitencia Creek in eastern San Jose, California.

I find it interesting that the females I've seen were always on flowers gathering nectar (I assume), whereas the males were hovering in bushes that seem to have a lot of dead wood. I wonder if the males are patrolling their nests.

Figure 1. A hovering Xylocopa. Photograph by Denise Greaves.

The Xylocopa photo in Fig. 1 first appeared in the Sierra Club Daily Ray of Hope. The photo was made with a Nikon D40 camera with a Nikkor 55-200mm zoom lens.

Figure 2. Another view of a hovering Xylocopa. Photograph by Denise Greaves.

You can see more of Dr. Greaves' nature photography by entering her name in the SAS search window and by going here. Editor.


Wanted: Gallery Contributions

Contributions to "Gallery" are welcome. Please submit sharp JPEG photographs and a caption of from a few sentences to several= paragraphs. Be sure to include your first and last name and the name(s) of any people in your submission. To the best of your ability, provide both the common name and the genus and species of any plants or animals. Common names are lower case, as in the live oak tree. The genus is capitalized and the species is not, as in: The live oak (Quercus virginiana) keeps its leaves during winter. Also provide information about the camera that made the photograph.

Send your contribution as an e-mail to the Editor. Place "Gallery" in the subject line. Be sure to include your full name. Attach the photograph as a JPEG.

Thank you for considering The Citizen Scientist. Editor.

____________________________
The Citizen Scientist (03 July 2009).