I like watching the bees in the garden. They have their different methods of collecting nectar and pollen from different plants. It appears they collect nectar from some, pollen from others and nectar and pollen from still others. The collection can be extremely rapid visit or a more relaxed endeavour.
This bee had an extremely thorough approach to her grooming of a single echinacea flower and I photographed her engrossed in her enterprise for eight minutes.
a french garden 
She is a beauty. Not a variety we have here.
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Echinacea are generous to bees. She looks a little like a bee I see, Halictus ligatus, that collects so much pollen on coneflowers, it looks like bright yellow saddlebags.
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It’s so interesting to compare what we see in different countries. I checked up and mine could well be Halictus sexcinctus, as you don’t get ligatus in Europe. It is so difficult to ID bees, even bumbles. When you get right down to the little details you often notice the bee has been mounted with a pin sticking through its thorax. I do like trying though 🙂
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Great study, love the captions as a running commentary. The slideshow is a lovely idea for a collection of photos, I must remember to do this!
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Thanks for the feedback 🙂
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