Author Gary Taylor ◦
I missed seeing her emerge (that’s ok, her Mum filled four nests in my Beetown, I’ve still got three more chances… 🙂), but this here is the first of the Megachile (Thaumatosoma) duboulaii to emerge from BeeTown.
Of course Murphy’s Law called for it to be yesterday while I was at work… 😅 a little disappointing, but still ok ‘cos there are no known pics of her, or any info on what she likes to feed on (other than my past pics), so every pic of her from here on is a first ever recording, and even better ‘cos I get to share it with likeminded people… 😀 And no doubt there’s more than a few not so likeminded people again thinkin’ this is boring as batshit, but they’ve probably stopped reading by now, so for those that still are, we’re seeing the first ever pics of Megachile (Thaumatosoma) duboulaii feeding on Eremophila and Hardenbergia (she also fed on my Rosemary but I haven’t got a decent pic yet, but, when added to the different types of flowers I’ve photographed her on previously, tells us she’s a generalist feeder), and she has also decided to raise her kids in the little town she grew up in…
💕 Love that… 3rd, 4th and 5th pics are her coming back to her nest in BeeTown (a 6mm diameter hole about 125mm deep). In the 3rd pic, laden with white pollen under her abdomen, she goes in head first. That’s to push up, compact and tidy the pollen she kicked off on her last run…
4th pic, pollen packed, she backs out then turns around and backs back in to kick off the last barrow load she’s collected.
5th pic, she’s unloaded and heading straight back out for another load… No point packing it neat and tidy yet, lets wait to see if we make it back past the birds with the next load first…
Images © Gary Taylor
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