alcho's Favorites

This was epic! Of course I ended up documenting all of it's angels just like mostly all the bee and wasp observations I take like this... The first and last photo are pretty menacing huh? lol🤣 Love this genus! Definitely felt great about myself after doing this - never seem to stop myself from getting over hurdles and self challenges such as handling something I'm sure could paralyze my arm for a few hours if I had gotten stung. 😌 Most respect to these absolutely magnificent animals - love them so much! You get to see it first iNat, enjoy❤️

I was documenting as usual, standing infront of some bush when I seen this silhouette land on a Bidens alba (White Beggarstick). Now when I seen it, it's shape didn't register familiarity in my mind. In the split second or two I saw it in the air before landing, I noticed it's form had a black and red shade to it, instinctively I just so happen to have the slightest thought in my mind that it was an Anthudiellum perplexum for whatever reason even though I didn't see it fully, so... Without a moments hesitation, before even getting a proper look at it... You know what I did???? I immediately took out the jar that was in my pocket and caught it!!!! Hahaha! Looking inside the jar, freaking out, yelling no way over and over, sure enough, beyond a reasonable doubt, I caught my dream bee for Florida! Thing is, I've been wanting to see this one but, unfortunately due to it not being spotted here according to iNaturalist in Pinellas county, I was forced to have it's cousin (Anthidiellum notatum) the Northern Rotund-Resin Bee on my dream bee list instead... Even so, the universe looked out for me this day and threw me a bone, or should I say bee??? Haha! Honestly, I was wanting to get it pinned but, was unable to find anyone in my area to do it before the following day since I didn't want it to die in my care unless it was pinned.. There I was, the following morning, in the same spot where I caught this absolutely breathtaking animal, I opened the jar and there it flew... All while thinking to myself; "I don't want you to go but I love you, thank you so much for this amazing experience, I am so grateful and can't wait to see you again".

When I went to drop off the Centris Nitida from the day before, I had a feeling to wait to see if another would fly on the same bush and sure enough another did so, I caught it (which is this one lol) before releasing the one from the night prior. So glad I did, I absolutely love this genus!!! They're like cute little teddy bears when they fly and they're by far the fastest bee I've stumbled upon besides Complex Augochloropsis Metallica and a couple others....

This was by far the largest wasp I've ever put on my hands. Surprisingly enough, I wasn't nervous, I wasn't shaking, I wasn't scared, I was completely calm with no nerves jumping, no second thoughts, I simply just put it on my hand, took pictures, got it back into the jar and released it the following morning... Much respect and love for Pygodasis quadrimaculata!