Hopefully this will be the first of many I take this season. Hopefully^2^ I'll even take the time to break out my "real camera" at some point and go 🐝 hunting
They get the name "carder" from their behaviour of scraping hair from leaves[4] such as lamb's ears (Stachys byzantina). They carry this hair bundled beneath their bodies to be used as a nest lining.[5] Like other members of the tribe Anthidiini, these bees do not cut leaves or petals as is typical for megachilids.
Great photo! App says it’s a European wool carder bee. I’m not familiar with these little cuties!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthidium_manicatum
Very cool! The highly glossy abdomen threw me off for a second until I saw the fuzz.