Like the bee swarm shots. I used to be a beekeeper. You should have shook the swarm into a box and then you could have gotten an easy shot of bees in flight.
Hard to say. It may be in mid-molt leaving breeding time or it may be its parentage -- I think it is an Anna's/Allen's hybrid and the feather structure is off in places. It is a regular at the place where i shot it and I have seen it consistent from many angles, so it's not just a trick of the light.