This is in upstate NY. Firstly, I know, the photos really suck. But the color pattern alone in the first 3 photos is something I cannot seem to find a match for online. It looks like T1-2 are orange-brown and T3-6 are black. T1 seems to be fully orange-brown and T2 looks to curve with black on the sides. In the field guides and online resources I’ve been looking through, all of the bees with some type of orange/brown/red color have the color in a different location.
In the same patch of flowers, I got a photo (the last photo) of a very similar-looking bee (also about the same size, as far as I can recall) that had yellow instead of orange-brown. I’m not sure what kind of bee this is either, but this definitely seems to more closely match some of the bees in the bee guides than the first bee does…
So I’m wondering if it’s possible that they’re the same type of bee, but one of them is just more orangey than yellow here for some reason? Does that ever happen in bees? I know that in the Northern Flicker (bird), some regions of the body that are supposed to be yellow can be closer to red due to diet. Obviously that’s an entirely different animal, but I’m wondering if something similar is possible in bees.
That aside, if you have any idea what kind of bee this could be, I would be very grateful!!