Carpenter Bee on Bee Balm

One of Missouri's 400 bee species is the carpenter bee.

Although a solitary species, carpenter bees are important because they pollinate the rest of plants that honeybees don't pollinate.

You can distinguish a carpenter bee from an "impatient bumble bee" by their glossy backside. A bumble bee is hairy.

I seem to have a number of carpenter bees working their way through my garden flowers. In photo, a carpenter bee visits bee balm, a butterfly favorite.

Charlotte