There may not be any Columbine seeds this year in my garden. A Big Bad Bee has been climbing the outside of the flowers, poking a hole in the nectaries & sucking all the nectar out, completely avoiding the pollen.
(Here it is attacking Aquilegia 'Sunburst Ruby.')
I have never witnessed this apian behaviour before, nor have I seen such a large bee. I enjoy watching the Bumblebees trying to get inside small dangling flowers. I don't know what species this is, but it is not welcome in my garden, the big parasite. Completely worthless excuse for a bee! (Sorry, I got a little carried away.)
(Edited June 6, 2008)
On Gail's suggestion, I researched nectar-robbing bees and I think I have identified the culprit: the Easter Carpenter Bee, a known nectar thief. It's not completely worthless as a pollinator. It pollinates open faced flowers. It steals nectar from flowers with long nectaries that it cannot access. The problem is that Honeybees will then use the hole to get the nectar, rather than crawl into the flower.