Ivory Banded Digger Bee!

Gotcha!

This is the first ivory banded digger bee Anthophora californica I spotted this year in the garden.

It most likely is a female, with ivory bands, and green compound eyes.

It is so hard to take photos of these bees because they are always in motion, circling quickly around the native patch constantly. When they do land on a blossom when foraging for pollen, it is very momentary before they fly off again.

These bees are solitary and nest in the soil, and frequently take nectar from lavender and salvia plants.

Let's see what happens when the coreopsis plants and bidens sunflower start to bloom, because they are also favorite nectar sources for digger bees.