Today's photo is a female sweat bee (Halictidae) gathering pollen on a St. John's Wort flower. This tiny bee ranges in color from blue to green and sometimes purple, but the green sweat bee is most common in Maine. It looks metallic in the summer sun. The sweat bee is not aggressive and only stings if it is handled, but it is attracted to the salt and moisture in human sweat. Female sweat bees carry pollen on their hind legs, but males do not. You can find sweat bees in gardens and along roadsides throughout the summer.
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