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Photo#1298685
leafcutter bee - Megachile

leafcutter bee - Megachile
Mayfair, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
June 21, 2016
Please feel free to frass if you don't need this. I don't know what species of leaf cutter bee it is and I don't know if its a male or a female, but its behaviour was quite unique. Instead of flying from flower to flower feeding, this bee would land on the same rock in my garden over and over again. I can't be sure if it was the same individual, but I observed this happening throughout a week's period. It was always the same rock that was used as a landing perch.

Probably male
I bet this is a male that was patrolling a territory for females. You can just see the yellow on front right leg in your image. The yellow is typical for male leaf cutter bees. I saw the same behavior in a Gary Oak system where the male kept landing on a dead arbutus leaf that was lying on ground (he was also sent marking the grasses).

 
That's awesome information to
That's awesome information to know. Next year I'm really going to focus on observing this behaviour and see if I can spot some male/female interaction going on. I didn't know the colour of the legs was typical of males. Thanks!

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