Green-and-gold Nomia Bees are large, colourful ... and photogenic. This is the first I've seen this season, but I expect they will be a regular sight throughout spring and summer. They're ground-nesters, and I know at least one of their favoured nesting grounds. And they feed on a wide range of flowers. I know where to look for them!

Lipotriches australica (link to iNaturalist record)

One week into spring, officially, and Styphelia ericoides is already past its prime. Fruits are now forming in the wake of earlier blooms. Yet clusters of flowers and buds remain on some plants, and they continue to cater for their share of small bees.

Exoneura sp.

Now this was a nice find! And the second sighting within two days (both times on this Leucopogon bush, so perhaps it was the same wasp each time). 'Blue Ants' ... Diamma bicolor ... are a type of flower wasp. The common name refers to the large, flightless females which are a brilliant blue ... and indeed quite commonly sighted. The males, however, are much smaller, winged ... and very rarely seen! This is only the second time I've photographed one, the previous being in October 2022. And it's not just here that they're a rare sighting. There are over 600 iNaturalist records of this species between Sept 2022 and now ... and only 21 of these are males (including my 2)!

Diamma bicolor (link to iNaturalist record)

Last spring I spotted these bees for the first time and was puzzled. The apically flattened abdomen is characteristic of Exoneura ... but those huge, bulging eyes and the very hairy face!?! After a bit of research the puzzle was solved ... these features are characteristic of the males of some species within the subgenus Exoneura (Exoneura). And now, almost exactly 12 months later, they make another appearance.

Exoneura robusta (link to iNaturalist record)

A species commonly found on pea flowers, this male Leioproctus was one of many bees swarming about and feeding on a single Daviesia bush. It was quite a spectacle, and included at least two species of Leioproctus plus Trichocolletes orientalis.

Leioproctus platycephalus (link to iNaturalist record)

Bright yellow Hibbertia flowers are currently putting on a show to rival that of the nearby yellow peas. However, they appeal to a narrower range of insects because Hibbertia flowers lack nectar. They attract only pollen-gatherers, and the plants' pollen is available to only some insects ... those that can free the grains from the tubular anthers. This small female bee had been doing just that ... gripping the anthers of Hibbertia calycina and giving them a good shake.

Lasioglossum (link to iNaturalist record)