Glenda Black, Beautiful Blue-banded Bees (ANIMALS 2026)

Blue-banded Bees are one of the most attractive native bees. They are solitary and females make nests by burrowing into soil or mud. The males have 5 coloured strips and the females four. The colour of different species iridescent stripes range between white, blue, turquoise or green. These bees are extremely fast, much faster than regular bees so are difficult to photograph, especially in flight, they often only land on a flower for a second or so. These bees "buzz polinate" by vibrating their flight muscles at high frequencies while gripping a flower, causing pollen to shoot out.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.