greenbeewithpollengrains

Green bee, Coto Brus, Southern Zone, Costa Rica. Pollen grains in bright yellow can be seen clinging to abdomen. These bees are attracted to the tabacon flower (shown). It smells a bit like cinnamon and vanilla. Would make a wonderful perfume! When the tabacon fruits it looks like a bright red flower. :

One of my great pleasures is finding the wonderful jewels of nature in my own yard and photographing as many as possible. Costa Rica is rich in biodiversity. I have at least five different species of bee alone on my property. This irridescent beauty is simply called a green bee. It is sitting on a Tabacon flower stalk attracted by the wonderful smell of the unspectacular "flower" itself. You can see that this bee has been visiting a lot of flowers. It has bright golden pollen grains stuck to its abdomen.