May — Megachile sp.
Stout and pale-banded, and she carries pollen in a brush on the underside of her abdomen rather than on her legs. That belly brush separates her whole family from every other bee in this guide.
If you grow roses or lilacs you have almost certainly seen her work without seeing her. Those neat half-circles cut from the edges of the leaves are hers. She cuts them with her jaws, carries each piece home, and rolls it into a thimble-shaped cell. Into each one goes a loaf of pollen and a single egg. Then she seals it and starts the next.
It does the plant no harm. Go and look at your leaves — that is the most direct evidence of a wild bee most people will ever find in their own garden.
Photographed at Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge by Jonathan Swanson.
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