LOS ANGELES — In the arid, cracked desert ground in Southern California, a tiny bee pokes its head out of a hole no larger than the tip of a crayon.
Photographer Krystle Hickman photographs wild bees as desert sunflowers blanket the valley floor Feb. 7 at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in San Diego County, Calif.
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This photo provided by Krystle Hickman shows a Perdita californica male bee on May 1 at Orange Hills Regional Park in Orange, Calif.
Photographer Krystle Hickman photographs wild bees in San Diego County, Calif.
Photographer Krystle Hickman walks in a field of wildflowers while photographing wild bees at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in San Diego County, Calif.
This photo, provided by Krystle Hickman, shows an Andrena prunorum male bee on March 7, 2021, in the Orcas Park region of Los Angeles.
Photos: Conservationist documents native bees
Photographer Krystle Hickman photographs wild bees as desert sunflowers blanket the valley floor at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in San Diego County, Calif., on Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
This photo, provided by Krystle Hickman, shows an Anthophora crotchii male bee on March 13, 2021 in the Santa Monica Mountains, Calif. (Krystle Hickman via AP)
This photo, provided by Krystle Hickman, shows an Anthidium formosum male bee on Sept. 10, 2023 in the Sawtooth Mountain Range, Idaho. (Krystle Hickman via AP)
Ecologist Julia Michaels, left, and photographer Krystle Hickman search for bees to photograph in a field of wildflowers at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in San Diego County, Calif., on Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
This photo, provided by Krystle Hickman, shows an Andrena prunorum male bee on March 7, 2021 in the Orcas Park region of Los Angeles. (Krystle Hickman via AP)
Photographer Krystle Hickman photographs wild bees as desert sunflowers blanket the valley floor at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in San Diego County, Calif., on Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Photographer Krystle Hickman photographs wild bees as desert sunflowers blanket the valley floor at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in San Diego County, Calif., on Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Photographer Krystle Hickman walks in a field of wildflowers while photographing wild bees at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in San Diego County, Calif., on Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
This photo, provided by Krystle Hickman, shows a Perdita californica male bee on May, 1, 2025 at Orange Hills Regional Park in Orange, Calif. (Krystle Hickman via AP)
