That’s what you see, isn’t it?  A green bee?

It’s actually a soldier fly (Odontomyia cincta).  It certainly does a good job of looking like a bee, doesn’t it?

I had been focused on a field of wildflowers, specifically the greenthread (Thelesperma filifolium) you see in these photos, when this little critter zoomed onto the scene.  I scarcely had time to realize it was there before it dashed off across a sea of color in search of better blooms (these weren’t in particularly good shape at the time, somewhat used and bedraggled).

Those two images represent the whole of our encounter, and even they are crops from larger images since I wasn’t even focused on the insect—or close-ups.