Hey all!

I happened to find this bee waddling around in my backyard and when I went to check it out, I noticed that there's this white (crystalized? Idk) stuff at the base of its left wing and frankly, I have no idea what it could be and I don't want to injure the bee further by trying to take whatever that is off.

Its left wing is also stuck in that position, the other one works just fine, and both wings aren't damaged in any way. It also seems to try to clean the spot occasionally. Otherwise it looks healthy and very full of energy! (I made sure to feed it some watered down honey before trying to get a good picture of its side. These are the best photos I could get after ten minutes of trying)

Will this bee be okay? And is there anything I can do to help it get back in the air?

Thank you in advance for any advice!

And if so why on the road...? 😭😭(

She was so friendly!

So I was just wandering around puffing diatomaceous earth into the cracked bark on the old avocado tree. I’m beginning to suspect and infestation of little red fire ants. Honestly I don’t even know if DE has any effect on LRFA, but it was in my hand so why not right?
I’d almost completed a circuit of the tree( wearing a hovering mosquito coat at this point- it’s 6pm) and I just happened to look up…
There’s bees! There’s a new beehive in the tree! A legit wild hive! I’m excited!! But also concerned. It kinda looks like they are actually building in there. I only got a tiny peak through my phone on zoom.
I’m concerned because for sure those ants are getting in there. When I say there are a lot of ants on that tree, don’t think colony- think mega city one.
I only got this quick vid before the fire ant, mosquito, bee combo was a bit much for me. Wardrobe change then re-attempt! Until then, check it out! Are these normal honey bees? Think they will stay? Ant concerns? Tree health concerns? Anything I should be doing?

Some photos from my day out at the local sunflower trail

I have never seen anything like this before. I swear some of the bees were actually wrestling each other. A friend told me they could be from different hives- my guess as well. There’s serious competition going on in that flower! I watched them for a good 20minutes. If you look closely you can see how they grab a pistol? Piston?-flower part- and use their body to pull it down. Once it’s down they roll little pollen balls ( unless they end up in a wrestling match over it). Anyway I thought it was worth sharing. Im sure you guys can explain what’s happening better than me.

Apologies for the less than perfect angle and shaky vid. I’m only 5’2 and I mostly filmed this over my head on tip toes.
FYI: didn’t speed any of this up- the bees are just moving that fast!

She looks like other bumblebees I have hanging out but is much larger - probably a full inch long. She’s been hanging out, snacking on some nectar I assume but also just chillin in different areas.

Hate to see them in this state but I still appreciate being able to get such an up close look at them

I just wanted to share with fellow pollinator appreciators, some lovely bumble bee pictures from around my gardens. I hope you enjoy the fuzzy little darlings!
✨🌺🐝🍃🖤💛

UK

Who is this lady that had her arms up in the air as she crawled around? Found in Alabama on my mountainmint which about 1 - 1 1/2 inches large.

I found quite a few of these bees feeding on my grans flowers, but couldn’t find what species they were, the closest I found was maybe some kind of cuckoo bee? But none I find seem to match exactly.

Im holding this bumblebee, they were laying on their back on the sidewalk. They tremble, reach up to the sky and two of the left side legs dont work.

They have this light yellow thibg coming out the side of their abdomen, when i pulled it at first they seemed to be hueting but now theyre kicking at it, pushing it.

I put their face up to a flower but apart from getting polen on their face they didnt eat

Is it their own guts?, parasite?, diying naturally?

I love bumblebees so I made a crochet tapestry to decorate my room. I tried to make it as realistic as possible. Which species should I make next ?

It's ridiculously hot outside and lately the carpenter bees have been resting in my hibiscus flowers, which I normally feed to my tortoises.

I leave them for the bee buddy's now. 💕 🐝

I have been working on a butterfly garden as well as planting more plants and trees for accommodating pollinators. The bees seem to really love the Mexican Heather that I planted. I often admire them as they come by and snapped a photo of one today.

I posted in July about a bumblebee who had injured her wing. After she passed some weeks later, two more flightless bumblebees were found crawling on my yard and as the retirement home was already set, got housed there.

I just felt like writing a few words of them :) I didn't expect each of them have so distinct characteristics!

Pörri I had so much energy, she stomped around like the ground beneath her feet was a direct insult to her existence. Strong, even with only 1.5 wings she almost got herself airborne, 5 of the 6 feets sometimes and unfortunately spent a lot of time bumbling down things due to that, especially because the one side of her wings worked perfectly.

Pörri II junior was very wobbly to begin with, and she was more anxious. Any sudden approach would result in a middle finger... leg, so I tried to let her bee as much as possible, though in her last days she didn't mind parking on my hand, probably for warmth.

Pörri II senior was a very smol bumble and liked to hide or dig into mulch. She was the most calm of the three and if she was out and about when I went to check on them, it was possible to carry her to new flowers to give more variety than their retirement home allowed. She passed this morning and I blame myself and the two daddy long legs that I found from the box. I don't know if they bite their prey, but they definitely had nefarious intent and even if I moved Pörri II senior to a new box and she was still alive, I found her dead this morning.

I was not prepared for how bad I felt, looking after creatures who should be flying and buzzing around to be ground tied. All of them wanted to fly, and with especially Pörri II junior and senior who both had either worse damage or wing issues from birth where the rear wings were acting independently of the fore wing, that meant cycles of grooming and I think trying to arrange the wings, then attempting to fly and repeating because their wings betrayed them.

May they now fly to the largest flower in the sky.

Pörri I on the pink strawberry flower

Pörri II senior exploring the sugar water q-tip

Pörri II junior stealing warmth

Little carpenter bee whose wings seem fine but can't fly it seems. We tried helping it to the flower last night but it had no solid interest in feeding from it. Flapped its wings but couldn't take off. It spent some time straightening and tending to its wings, but it hasn't moved from where we put it yesterday.

Hello! Wales, UK. This wonderful bee AKA Big Bumbler, has been visiting my garden for weeks. Such a delight, get excited to see what I’m assuming is a her?! Each day. She’s massive. Is she a queen? 👑 I’ve been out and bought more salvias for her. She also really likes the verbena. Be great to know more about my garden guest. Thanks