I've been waiting for the metallic dark blue mining bees observed last year* to come back and tried to get better images this time. They move fast and I don't have a real macro lens, so "better" is relative. Hopefully they are the same species, anyway! I made sure to keep the individuals separate in my photos, just in case (I know there were questions last time). Here's the last one (of three):

This one seemed to about the same size as last year's bees*, approximately ~7–9 mm (larger than bees #1 and #2
Very, very fast and skittish
Fewer of this larger type were only observed on the California lilac (Ceanothus sp.) than the smaller ones.
Not sure as to sex. Counting the antennal and abdominal segments was difficult.
Dark metallic blue-green cast in person (new UV filter on my camera seems to have stripped that out)
Long, wispy white and amber hairs (kind of "downy"); plus a thick tuft on the last tergum.

This one was difficult to photograph (just like last year), so I didn't get nearly as many photos of it as the smaller ones. Please let me know if I can provide anything else! Thank you!!

Bee #1: http://bugguide.net/node/view/1374595
Bee #2: http://bugguide.net/node/view/1374603
*Chrome is crashing if I try to use html, so here's the link to last year's post: http://bugguide.net/node/view/1224376