Holes in Bees.

[leyland]

Hello there, while i was out the other day birding/trying to take pictures of Butterflies.
I came across 2 Bee's 1 a Buff Tailed and an unknown one. They where both on the ground so i bent down to try and photo them, when i noticed that they both had holes in them. The holes where at the back of the abdomen. The abdomens was completly hollowed out. The rest of the Bee was all there and in good condition looking untouched. It looked like they had just passed aWAY before i got there.

I was wondering if anybody has come across this before?

Could it off been parasites or birds?

Lee

[Imaginos]

I've come across this quite a few times, I was told once that it was caused by Spotted Flycatchers, but now I think that other birds are also responsible. As far as I can tell through the back end is the quickest way to a bumblebees edible bits and that's why you end up with discarded husks missing their back ends.

[pheonix]

Intertesting, my initial though would be aa parasite, maybe a parasitic wasp?

[henrya]

I'd go with Imaginos - and look for Blue Tits and Great Tits as the culprits as well as SFs.

henrya

[leyland]

Thanks for your replys guys, sorry for the delay i have been away for a couple of days.
My first thought was a parasitic wasp or maybe Green woodpeckers.
I haven't seen any spotted flycatchers around my neck of the woods(Fulham) but plenty of Blue/Great tits so they seem to be the most likely culprits.

Leyland