I was taking some pictures today of some plants on our property in Idaho, to get an ID on them, when I came across this possible native bee on what has been identified for me as Asclepias speciosa, an Idaho native milkweed. The plant had lots of these bugs/bees on it, and I'm hoping to find out what it is. My husband is allergic to bees, so I want to find out if it stings or not. I will do anything to get out of killing a bee, but wasps usually have to go if they hang around too long and are aggressive. These did not seem aggressive at all, and weren't bothered by my intrusion. They were very busy, flying very fast from flower to flower. Any information that can be provided would be most appreciated. You'll need to enlarge the photo to see the bug or bee.

I don't know about the bug/bee, but the asclepia is very pretty. Maybe you can get some of them to grow on your cliff?

HI Natalie and Arlene.
My eyes aren't good enough to idientify the bee/bug so hopefully someone more knowledgeable will pop in soon.

I've split your chatter off to it's own thread to keep the Native Bee thread on topic. Feel free to chat all you want but I will be deleting the chatter sometime later.

Thanks Margaret, Sorry we got chatty and got off topic. I can't seem to keep on topic these days. Go ahead and delete it now. We have lots of other threads for chatting.

I made the photo of the bee larger, so hopefully it will be easier to see.

Not a problem Natalie. Chatting is OK we just clean it out after it appears everyone is done doing it

The enlargement helped me see it better. I've never seen anything like that.

I have never seen another bug or bee like it either. I am about as far from an expert as you can get though. I really liked the fact that it didn't seem aggressive, since we have to be careful because of my husband being allergic. I honestly didn't even know about native bees until last week, when I read an article in our local newspaper about them. I am hoping that this is one of them. I do have lots of honey bees in the veggie garden and on the field mustard, but I will really appreciate native bees for my hillside that I hope to get plants started on.

I will try to get better pictures in the next few days, and some more information on it's size. I didn't even notice this one when I was taking pictures of the flowers.

I have seen such a creature before but I have no idea what it is. I have been hoping someone would ID it. Anyone?

Try posting your picture to www.whatsthatbug.com it is a great ID site.

Thanks Pam! I just found out last night that there was a bug forum on here, but forgot to look for it. I'll post it on the link above too!

Has anyone been able to ID this critter?

No, and I keep getting busy and have forgotten to post it elsewhere.

Margaret (mcash70) identified it as
Pigeon Horntail wasp.

I asked on the Gardening for Birds, Bees and Butterflies forum .

Ah, good! Now I know what is enjoying the blooms on my golden rain tree! Thanks Margaret!

Thanks Mindy! That was so nice of you! I'll thank Margaret. She's a friend of mine!