Our Christmas Bush is now in flower, but the bracts that colour brilliant red will not develop their colouring until later next month to be on show for Christmas. However today the flowers were the main attraction for lots of insects; bees, beetles, flies and wasps that were very busy working over the flowers. Some that I couldn't miss were large metallic bees that were buzzing to and fro from the flower clusters.
These bees which are at least twice the size of honey bees are probably Metallic Green Carpenter Bees, Xylocopa
Areatus (although
bombyylans is also a possibility) and are one of 8 native species of the Genus. They are sometimes referred to as Grass Tree bees, as they often bore the hole their nest in the trunks of the plants, but they will also utilise other soft barked trees. They have a sting, but are not aggressive and people being stung is not particularly known. They were not staying still and it was quite overcast so not a particularly good photo.
