Anyway, I noticed this particular type of bee acting funny. It would buzz around each flower madly, within each stand and then move on to the next stand, buzz around all the flowers then move on to the next stands and repeat the behaviour. Occasionally, it would stop in front of a flower that had a bee on it, hover for milliseconds and then either move along or buzz dive the bee if it wasn't one of its kind, knock it off the flower and chase it away. Then, repeat the whole cycle over again.
Happy little bees no longer! We have militia bees in our midst.
So, I stood for a few minutes with a dried out poppy pod on the end of it's stem, chasing away the militia bees. Before I gave up and silently retreated, watching from my place on the grass the act of war being played out in the purple echinacea.
I think these warrior bees are honey bees. Other than the big bumble bees, honey bees are the only ones that live in colonies. All other bees are solitary creatures. So, living in colonies, these honey bees would have the resources to send out bees that patrolled their resources. The solitary bees are just intent on trying to gather as much food as they can and when they can. They don't have the time and resources to patrol and protect.
Kind of like humans, don't you think?