Ivory Banded Digger Bees

This afternoon an Ivory Banded Digger Bee male Anthophora californica spent a lot of time around the Pozo Blue salvia plant.

As you can see, I didn't cut back any of the dried flowerheads or stems remaining from last year. One never knows if birds need to eat the seeds, or if any insects needed stems for overwintering quarters.

I only realized when I blew up this shot that there were two males interested in the plant, the one flying in the center, and the other, facing the camera to the lower diagonal right of the center bee.

Here is one of the digger bees in flight, on the lower right.