Male carpenter bee and the Mexican salvia

The carpenter bees have been back in the garden for a couple of weeks now.

I've only noticed male carpenter bees, who seem to be constantly in flight except for the nano-second they seem to take to feed on nectar or collect pollen from blossoms.

Although I've read that carpenter bees fly slowly from flower to flower, the ones currently in our garden are mostly very quick, barely landing on a blossom before they head for the next one.

I always feel very lucky whenever I manage to actually get photos of these fast creatures!

In the image above, a male carpenter bee is approaching Mexican salvia blossoms.

And here the bee is getting nectar from the blossoms.