spiphany 的最愛

Leafcutter Bee - Megachile macularis sharing nest cavity with wolf spider
Identified as Megachile Eutricharaea macularis on Bowerbird by Ken Walker: "An incredible sequence of images documenting something I could never have imagined."

Interesting behavior: appears to be attempted theft of pollen from the bumblebee worker by the honeybee. The honeybee was repeatedly landing on the bumblebee for at least a minute, and actually followed the bumblebee to a second flower on the bull thistle plant. On looking at the photos, it appears the honeybee worker was targeting the pollen clumps on the corbicula. She was not successful in removing an entire clump but did seem to be getting some of it off.

found on the ground in the forest. After some dear but quite exhausting hours able to give to the professional care of fabulous woman of Tierschutzbund Leipzig. Thousand thanks to their work.

German website with very helpful information https://www.mauersegler.com/food/

Provisioning a nest with a caterpillar:
When I noticed the wasp, she was unsealing the nest, removing a clot (1,2; 9 shows her front legs on that clot before she puts it back in). Then, she took the caterpillar and, to my surprise, flew on a twig less than 10cm from the nest (3,4), only to fly back a few seconds later and carry the caterpillar into the hole (5-8). She filled up the hole with the sealing clot and debris and finally pushed sand on top (12) until there was no trace of the nest.
Caterpillar: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/128548948