Native Bees Welcome Spring’s Arrival!
April 1, 2012 by Soulsby Farm - A Very Small Farm
It’s my pleasure to introduce Denise Ellsworth honey bee and native pollinator education from The Ohio State University Department of Entomology. She’s doing a very special Guest Blog today. Please leave any comments or questions for her below and sign up for her blog at the bottom of this piece. Take it away Denise……
in bloom at Toledo Botanical Garden
March days with temperatures in the 80′s brought many of our native bees out of their winter hiding places. On a visit to the Toledo Botanical Garden a few weeks ago to teach a class of new OSU Master Gardener recruits, I was lucky enough to find an area with hundreds of soil mounds created by ground nesting native bees.
hundreds of native bee nests under oak tree
At first glance, the soil mounds resemble ant hills. but they are larger and have a hole in the center about a half-inch in diameter. As I crouched down to observe the mounds, I saw dozens of adult bees flying across the area from one hole to another. These solitary bees aren’t aggressive and rarely sting (unless handled), so I spent several minutes crouched over the nests to capture the bees on film. When I could keep very still, a bee head would slowly start to emerge from the hole at the center of each mound. Once I moved or created a shadow, the individual bee would quickly pull back into the soil nest.
Digger bees, plasterer bees and polyester bees are all native solitary bees that make this kind of soil mound in spring. Typically found in sandy soils on south-facing slopes, the nests are made by the adult bee. She removes sandy soil particles from the nest as she excavates new chambers for her young to grow. The soil is piled up around the nest exit, forming chimney-like mounds. On sunny, warm spring days, the bees are active, emerging from their nests to mate.
ground bee nest, with acorn for scale
chimney-like soil mound from ground bee
Females fly off to forage on blooming plants (lamium, crocus, azaleas, magnolias and cornelian-cherry dogwood were in bloom that day at the Botanical Garden), then bring the pollen and nectar back to the nest. She lays an egg in the chamber she’s excavated and leaves a loaf of pollen and nectar food (also called bee bread) behind for her yet-to-emerge larva to eat. As a solitary bee, this adult doesn’t tend the nest, but instead provisions the chamber with enough food to bring her offspring from egg to adult.
willow flower offers early food source
These ground-nesting bees aren’t the only bees active in early spring. Carpenter bees have just emerged from their tunnels in wood, and will be starting this year’s generation of baby bees. On a visit to the Holden Arboretum in Kirtland, OH, last week, I witnessed dozens of carpenter bees foraging on flowers of the three-flowered maple. This native bee is large like a bumble bee, but has a shiny abdomen. The male carpenter bee buzzes menacingly around the nest opening, but can’t harm you because he doesn’t have a stinger. The female can sting, but she’s reclusive and non-aggressive. Instead, she’s busy chewing out galleries in wood for this year’s brood. Like the ground nesting bee, this mother bee will gather pollen and nectar, then bring it back to the chamber she’s chewed with her strong jaws. She lays a single egg in each chamber and provisions the egg with bee bread.
carpenter bee on three-flower maple
The larval carpenter bees develop inside the wood galleries until late summer, when they emerge as adults. Their mother and father have already died; this new generation will spend the winter in the galleries, emerging to mate next spring. Carpenter bees can cause significant structural damage to wood structures, and can be difficult to evict. Adults return to the same galleries from which they emerged, and will continue to tunnel and cause damage. I once had carpenter bees take up residence in a porch area — they were still a problem even after I added vinyl siding to the home.
Read more about carpenter bees, and how to keep them from damaging decks, porches and lawn furniture.
adult bee near nest
Even though they can cause damage to wood, carpenter bees are important pollinators. By leaving dead trees standing or providing brushy habitat, our landscapes can be a haven for native bees. These bees play an important role in pollination of garden crops and native plants. Encourage native bees by planting flowers to bloom from spring through fall and reducing or eliminating pesticide use. Early bloomers, like maples and willows, can be especially helpful to emerging spring bees. Gardeners and homeowners can make a big difference in the conservation of these vital insects.
Cornus mas -- corneliancherry dogwood in bloom
Denise Ellsworth
honey bee and native pollinator education
OSU Department of Entomology
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Interesting!
Thanks for this! I just noticed an area of ground bees in our backyard yesterday and was curious about them — such interesting creatures. And I’ll be checking out the link on carpenter bees. They’re doing quite a number on a support beam in our carport, but I want to deal with it the right way. Thanks so much for the information!
Very interesting, thanks for sharing!
Wonderful post <|;-)
Informative post!
I did not know that some bees live in the ground – I love bees and here in Northern Ireland they’re all coming out now.
Great! My mason bees emerged from their “house” which is full … I should have had a new one ready, huh? Well, I’ll install one anyway. I find our native bees fascinating! Love the close up views of the ground nest! Love that Cornelian Cherry, too – I planted a bareroot but it never took. Wonderful post.
I didn’t know until recently that bees & wasps built nests in the ground. Truthfully found that a little scary. Glad to know some males can’t sting and the females wont’ unless you mess with them first.
Good information. thanks for sharing.
Reblogged this on Adventures and Musings of a Hedgewitch.
You did an excellent job of showing us all of the different bees. A job well done!
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
Love Bees … great Post!
Great to see something about bees. They are so interesting and important.
O wow you’re a bee expert! We have some different ones around this year, bigger than usual.
How wonderful Denise, i am impressed, i keep honey bees here on my little farm because no-one has seen a native bee here in years (the corn belt!) so to see where them emerge from the holes like that is astounding.. thank you.. c
Great post. I love the pictures. I used to live in Monroe, MI and have fond memories of the Toledo Botanical Garden. Such a beautiful spot!
Thanks Denise for the great information. I have a question about apple blossom pollination. I have a Macintosh and a Cortland tree that I planted three years ago but no fruit yet. The trees are now about 12 feet high with 4″ trunks.
The first year was understandable, but the second year blossoms appeared but no fruit. I know they blossom at different times. Is that going to be an issue or can other flowering trees like crab apple do the job.
Perhaps I just anxious for fruit.
Jeff
You’re right, Jeff…apples do need to cross pollinate, but a crabapple that blooms at the same time should do the trick. Maybe this will be the lucky year!
Denise
Wow. Great photos. I didn’t know bees could live underground. Nor did I know some bees were solitary creatures.
Interesting post. I love native bees. In Australia we have our own native bees (and no varroa) but the natives have a hard time competing against the European honey bee. We’ve done our part by building an insect hotel in our back yard. The solitary bees (and wasps) make nests in the mud bricks and log holes we’ve provided. http://laurarittenhouse.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/native-bee-nursery/
Interesting post! Thank you for sharing the information. We were just outside today clearing some early spring brush and wondering about the carpenter bees (we call them wood-borers) already swooping around our porch and swings.
Really lovely post Denise and it is amazing how nature just keeps on buzzing, digging, procreating, pollinating and making our lives so much richer without most of us even being aware that it is going on regardless. I love bees and am in the process of learning all about them and volunteering at an apiary to learn precious skills before diving in with both hands (soon to be both swollen stung over excited hands no doubt) to bee keeping on our property. I don’t think that many people realise just how precious our bees are and how important they are for pollination. We want to do our bit and keep them happy whilst employing them gainfully to pollinate our garden. Again, lovely post and wonderful pictures.
wonderful post! Thank you for sharing!
We are seeing a decline in bee and wasp varieties here. Surprising really, as we are very rural. I try to keep lots of herbals and natural locales around, so that the insects can live without too much stress.
Reblogged this on Tales of an urban bee farmer and commented:
Super cool blog post about native bees in Ohio. Thanks to Soulsby Farm Blog. (you guys are living the dream!)
Cool post. Sadly we just had to get rid of a MASSIVE beehive in our yard… you can check out the details over at my blog desertpatiogarden.wordpress.com
I have had mason bees and carpenter bees for the last several years. The carpenter bees ruined lots of wood that I had on an older shed. They made nesting holes in it and laid their eggs and left. They will fly right up to your nose and stare you in the eyes and that is scary if you don’t know they don’t sting. The mason bees have taken the place of honeybees around my wildlife backyard. They are doing the pollinating.
Beautiful pictures and wonderful information Denise. We lost our hive bee’s last year to CCD. How are the native bee’s faring with CCD? Look forward to more posts!
*anna
I loved reading this. I’ll have to look more closely at the little mounds of sand in my California garden to check for native bees. This morning I had a large bumblebee fly past my computer and hit the window. Scooped her up in a jar and took her outside.
What a great article! And what a great blog! Thank you for “liking” our blog, I think our hearts are in the same place. Have a great season!
Meg
Fascinating! Truly fascinating!
I’ve always been fascinated by the bee. I first encountered ground nesting bees last spring. There were thousands of these bees hovering over the ground for several days. I live near the beach and the bees were actually in the shade of the sand oaks and magnolias. Thanks for the special guest blog to shed a little more light on these amazing creatures!
That was fascinating. The type of post I enjoy the most, really, because you ave us lots and lots of detail so I learned something new too:)
Very cool post!
We recently decided to give up on our honeybee efforts after 3 years of trying. With so many commercial hives in the area (lots of raspberry farms) robbing was always an issue. Now we’re working on encouraging native pollinators like mason bees with lots of bee houses and tasty flowers.
Hi! Just stopping by to let you know how much I enjoy your blog! Today, I’ve nominated you for The Versatile Blogger Award, please see today’s post for details. Thanks for all you do!
Cool, I love all the photos! There are lots of native bees in my area but I don’t really know the difference between the species, just that it’s really, really cute when you see one sleeping in a daffodil or blackberry blossom! I don’t use pesticides ever and neither do the people on a couple of surrounding places, so I think that’s one reason we have a good lot of pollinators. I don’t think we have carpenter bees – what does damage to wood around here is the woodpeckers, who then leave acorns in the holes. Eeks.
Hey really nice post…
Bees are fantastic animal…
A friend of mine is a honey maker and if I can convince him i’ll post some news about his honey farm, it may be interesting…
If I wanted to find native bee ground nests, where would I want to start looking? From the pic it looked like it was in short grass under a tree? (I live in Virginia, and am not sure if that affects anything).
Look for sandy, well-drained soils with bare patches. South-facing slopes are preferred. Have fun hunting! As soon as they’re there, they’re gone…I tried to photograph bees after a gardener called me, but the weather turned cool and the bees left. Happy hunting!
Thanks for your help! No sandy soils near my house (we have heavy clay) so I’ll have to content myself with carpenter bees (of which we have more than enough) but I’m going to look for the native bee nests on my walks. Neat!
Any ideas for a good native bee identification guide? I’m in Wisconsin and my kids and I are always trying to figure out what bugs are what but we haven’t found a good pictorial guide to help us out yet!
Here are some great free on-line resources on bee ID. Bee ID is pretty tough, so your approach might be to see how many different kinds of bees you can fine, and notice how they differ, vs. trying to figure out exactly who everyone is. Have fun!
Native pollinators in orchards: a wonderful guide from Cornell University:
http://www.fruit.cornell.edu/tree_fruit/resources/wild_pollinators.pdf
Native bee ID guide from Ohio State University:
http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/ale/images/Bee_ID_guide.pdf
Xerces Society Pollinator Monitoring Guide (nice images of bees, wasps, other insects)
http://www.xerces.org/download/pdf/PA_Xerces%20Guide.pdf
Xerces bumble bee ID guide:
http://www.xerces.org/identification-guides/
Hi, and thanks for visiting my blog http://gilledwards.wordpress.com/ and liking a post.
How fascinating to have bees living in the ground, i never knew they did that. I will enjoy your blog and have added it to my blogroll.
all the best
Gill
Fascinating. In MD, our honey bees were nearly annihilated a couple of years ago. That spring, all of my pollination was done by small bees and bumble or carpenter bees. That is when I first ook notice of the massive bee population beyond honey bees.
Another site to get IDs is bugguide.net.
I ditto the “wonderful post” comments. That’s a lovely photo of the Miner bee coming out of her nest.
Thanks for this information filled post. We had a bee hive on our tree for three years,and we used to keep watch, but I never saw the bees nesting on the ground!
I have a question about carpenter bees. We have quite a few living in the top rails of the pergola off the back of our house. I like them a lot and want to keep them around, but not on the deck! We were thinking of removing the affected wood and screwing it onto the wooden fence in the back garden so the bees could keep their home, just not so close to the house. Would this work?
We have carpenter bees that live in the top wooden rails of the pergola on the back deck. I really like the bees, just not so close to the back door! I want to keep them around. Would it work to remove the wood and screw it onto the back fence, away from the house, so that the bees can keep their home and we can use our deck?
I eat a bit of local, unpasteurized honey every day and it almost completely eliminates my allergy symptoms. Gotta love those honey bees!
It’s worth a try…you may want to pain or cover the original area to discourage them from returning!
Nice post. I had no idea some bees are ground nesters. I’ve only had experience with yellow jackets and come out on the hurty end of those encounters. I’ll have to look more closely when I see buzzing critters come out of the ground rather than run screaming in the opposite direction!
I have such an appreciation for these extremely hard workers and the balance with nature they bring. Sadly I’m quite allergic but I still have a definite respect for what they do for the planet…
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Loved your post. Here’s a bee story for you. My brother and his wife were eating breakfast one day when the livingroom bay window collapsed. Carpenter bees!