So you're sitting in your yard having your morning coffee, and you get buzzed--not a buzz from the caffeine but a buzz by a carpenter bee.

A male carpenter bee,  Xylocopa tabaniformis orpifex, is guarding the salvia, fending off all other male suitors as it waits for a female to arrive. Then, seeking a quick energy fix, our subject stops to rob the nectar (when carpenter bees slit the corolla, bypassing the pollination process, it's called "robbing the nectar").

We managed to photograph this male carpenter (below) in quick succession: (1) in flight (2) stealing the nectar and (3) jumping off the flower.

Xylocopa tabaniformis orpifex is the smallest of the three carpenter bee species found in California, according to native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emertius professor of entomology at UC Davis. The other two species:  X. varipuncta and X. californica. (See UC Davis Department of Entomology website.)

X. tatabaniformis orpifex may be the smallest, but you wouldn't know it by its buzz.