Amazing what I saw!

Today, I was trying to capture some nature into my camera while on nature watch in my mom’s yard…I was happy to get a focus on a bee that had just landed on a leaf  ( I never get the butterflies..I was happy I got this bee).

Then I saw that it was biting into the leaf. Slowly, it was cutting the leaf and by the time I realized and took another shot, it had cut the leaf at the last bit, and was flying away carrying it…Haven’t seen a bee do that. I thought they collected honey. What was this bee carrying bits of leaves for?

My mom said that it may be creating a nest…but, their nests, or beehives are made of wax, right? Later, in the day I went to the plant and I found a number of leaves with semi circles missing from them..  Although I wasn’t able to catch the shot when it was carrying the leaf away, I was almost frozen when I saw that…, I was able to catch the bee in some of its action. You can almost see the action unfold in these pictures.

Here they are

You can see that it just landed on the leaf and I hadn’t noticed that it was cutting it.

 

 

Here you can clearly see that its cutting the leaf…biting into it. Look at the way its holding the piece folded with its legs..

 

 

Here you find the last bit of the leaf left to bite. Look at how its holding the leaf. I think you can imagine how it flew away holding that piece of leaf…Just like you see it holding it here.

I was taken by surprise when it flew holding that leaf..almost frozen watching it…saying ‘Wow’.

P.S  I had to find out who that bee was…and I googled. I got my answer.  These bees are called leafcutter bees. and Here is some information about them.

Leafcutter bees are not aggressive and have a mild sting that is used only when they are handled.

Leafcutter bees cut the leaves of plants. The cut leaf fragments are used to form nest cells. (So, they were indeed collecting those leaf fragments to form their nest!!!!)

Leafcutter bees nest in soft, rotted wood or in the stems of large, pithy plants, such as roses.

They are solitary bees, they don’t form colonies.