The bee pictured was spotted out in the field recently. It was noticeably larger than the European honey bee and was quite loud in flight.

Pictures were sent to Dr Tobias Smith at the University of Queensland for identification. It turned out to be a peacock carpenter bee (or green carpenter), with this one being the male of the species. Females are darker green, without the yellow hairs.

What’s interesting is that this bee was foraging. In dealing primarily with European honey bees, it is easy to think that all male bees do no work.

The beehives were very quiet in June because there was a poor flowering of Melaleuca quinquenervia (broad-leaved paperbark) this year. This is a short budding, high yielding – of both nectar and good quality pollen – Australian native that flowers prolifically nearly every year in the Far North Coast. This year was their off year!