Author Gary Taylor ◦
Under the Woolly bush… Stoked with this one, this is another bucket list shot ticked off, Amegilla bubbling.
For those unaware it’s something a lot of native bees do. They suck up a heap of nectar when they’re feeding, but they’re after the sugars and nectar has a high percentage of plain ol’ water in it, so once they’ve got a gut load they pull up and regurgitate (or “bubble”, ‘cos it sounds nicer 
) the nectar to evaporate the moisture, condensing the nectar.
I’ve seen and photographed this with a stack of other native bees but what gets me every time is the clarity of the nectar bubble, you can see the inverted image of the view behind, the dry grass, the blue sky… and in the second pic his glossa (that’s just science jargon for bees tongue) poking through, stretching and working the bubble to speed up the process… So cool… 
Check out the other blogs in this Woolly Bush series:
Under the Woolly Bush | Bubbling Amegilla | Sleeping Waroona cuckoo bee
Check out our Bee section for information about the Amegilla Bee and Amegilla chlorocyanea.