Wool gathering

In mid July, the flowers in my garden were buzzing with bees -- and so were some of the leaves.  Leaf cutter bees were busy collecting nesting materials from the leaves of lamb's ears (Stachys byzantina).  However, instead of removing segments of the leaves, they were shearing the hairs off the leaves.  In the picture below, several sheared patches can be seen on the lamb's ear leaves, along with a ball of the hairs.

A ball of fuzz on a lamb's ear (Stachys byzantina) leaf.

This ball had been abandoned by a bee when I came close to investigate.  Once I kept still, I did not have to wait long for one of the leaf cutters -- specifically, a European wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum) -- to land and continue harvesting the hairs.

A female European wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum) gathering the fuzz from a lamb's ear leaf.

As you may have guessed, the European wool carder bees get their name from this behavior.  To see one of the bees "carding", watch the video below.

* To see this video in high definition (1080p), you may need to: 

(1) click "YouTube" to watch on the YouTube website

(2) change the settings at the bottom of the video screen

  

After the bees fly off with their lamb's ear hair balls, they return to their nests, which are made of the leaves they cut, and install the hairs as a lining.