Newborn Red Mason Bees

[Dalantech]

While inspecting my solitary bee house I noticed a couple of spiders had set up shop in it. Normally I'd let nature take its course, but those where my bees and my house. Since it was 17C I figured some of them might hatch, so I had the camera ready.

Tech Specs: Canon 70D (F11, 1/250, ISO 100) + a Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens (over 1x to about 3.5x) + a diffused MT-24EX. These are single, uncropped, frames taken hand held.

First up is a hatching female.

Hatching Female Red Mason Bee by John Kimbler, on Flickr

The rest are males, and there were about five or six that hatched. I was letting them crawl onto my hand to warm up.

Newborn Red Mason Bee I by John Kimbler, on Flickr

Newborn Red Mason Bee II by John Kimbler, on Flickr

Newborn Red Mason Bee III by John Kimbler, on Flickr