Did you take part in the Great Bee Count last weekend?
I was able to go out and observe our wild sunflowers for fifteen minutes.
I saw five of these:
We have been seeing these small solitary bees on our Mexican hat flowers and wild sunflowers all summer. They are members of the genus Halictus, in the sweat bee family.
I also saw a bee that I knew about, but had never seen.
Can you see the white puffy or fuzzy area on its front leg? The white structures on its front leg mean that is a male leafcutter bee, genus Megachile. I see female leafcutter bees all the time, but this is the first time I have captured a male on film.
Of course, after I was done counting and put away my camera, a honey bee and a beautiful green sweat bee showed up. 
Did you participate in the count? What did you see?
