Saguaro Bloom!

They don't bloom like this very often, so I had to stop and take pictures of this one.

I won't bore you with repeated pictures of this same bloom, although I took several.

I will post some crops I made when I noticed something that has me puzzled.

Notice the large honey bee above the flower and the much tinier bee off to the right. 

Now either the smaller bee is being carried or this is an optical illusion due to the juxtaposition of the two flying close together.

According to the experts at http://bugguide.net this is likely some kind of wasp which looks a lot like a honey bee, and that it is carrying of its prey.  How about that! Cool stuff and a lucky shot (although it could have been better focused).

Saguaro Time

Saguaro cacti usually bloom mid- to late-May, but with the early heat (105 F two days ago) flowers are already opening.

 These pictures were taken less than a week apart.

And the next day:

Flowers open in the evening, and are gone with the heat of the following day.  Bees are good pollinators, but bats are the main pollinators.  Before I got to take this shot, a hummingbird was buzzing one of the flowers.

As long as the topic is saguaros, I'll show one that is dying:

Although there is green which indicates chlorophyl and production of food and therefore life, this saguaro is very near death.

 The lower portion is oozing out black rot. The saguaro will likely die this summer.

Saguaros can be extremely tough, too. This one has endured being chopped, shot and who knows what else.

 Same saguaro as above, shown here producing lots of flowers.

Here's the whole cactus: