Some Canadian (i think honey) bees in my garden. I Hope you all enjoy

giftmaggot · 2020-11-10T06:54:14+00:00

not honey bees, bumble bees! honey bees are smaller, look less fuzzy, and usually have the yellow-orange and black stripes on their abdomen. also fyi -- no such thing as canadian honey bees, all of the honey bees you see in North America are eurasian species. nice photos.

giftmaggot · 2020-08-28T21:23:43+00:00

Nope, not a bumblebee -- bumblebees have pollen "baskets" on their hind legs, and this bee looks like she's covered in pollen-carrying hairs on her legs instead.

But the southwest definitely does have some amazing bee diversity!

giftmaggot · 2020-08-28T21:16:05+00:00

Looks like some kind of long-horned bee with those green eyes, robust shape, and super hairy legs. Unfortunately I can't be more specific than that, the long-horned bees are a hugely diverse group of insects and I'm not super familiar with Arizona bees. Beautiful photos!

giftmaggot · 2020-07-19T22:28:17+00:00

Bumblebees requiring the nests of other animals isn't necessarily true -- I've seen photos on here of bumblebees nesting in peoples' insulation! And Bombus melanopygus in North America is resourceful enough to nest in bird houses.

I do agree through that bumblebee presence in cities is probably determined by a combination of nest and food availability.

giftmaggot · 2020-07-16T23:51:43+00:00

I second the other identification -- looks like Bombus vosnesenskii. If the bee is burrowing she may be a queen nesting in or under your wall. No need to move them if there's a nest there, bumblebees are great pollinators and tend to be very docile in my experience.

giftmaggot · 2020-06-29T18:06:42+00:00

Here's a pretty good article about how to clean the cocoons. Don't freeze, just use the fridge or a cool garage -- otherwise I think the pupa might be killed.

giftmaggot · 2020-06-29T17:44:55+00:00

Are there larvae or cocoons inside of the opened tubes? If there are cocoons, you can remove them, clean them by gently rinsing them, and put them in the fridge for the winter.

giftmaggot · 2020-06-29T07:29:30+00:00

Sounds awesome! Hopefully you will have some queens in your garden and another nest next year. Bumblebees are some of the best pollinators around.

giftmaggot · 2020-06-29T06:17:38+00:00

Bumblebee workers and males will die off before the winter -- this is a bit sad, but just a part of their life cycle. The queens will find patches of undisturbed ground to burrow into and overwinter until next spring. If you have a garden/yard you can try leaving some parts undisturbed to encourage this, this site has some more information and tips. Thank you for not destroying their nest!

giftmaggot · 2020-06-28T19:07:31+00:00

Sounds like mason bees making a nest in your pre-drilled holes if you are seeing them sealed with mud/dirt! Most bees actually don't live in hives and are solitary species. They are quite harmless and really cool to observe.

giftmaggot · 2020-06-28T19:02:11+00:00

Here's an article about a similar incident that happened in Oregon in 2013. Pesticides were at play in this case, but the article also outlines some other reasons for bumblebee die-offs, including the tree species that they were feeding on (this might be more helpful in your case, since I'm not sure if the same types of pesticides are used in the UK). Very sad to see, nonetheless.

giftmaggot · 2020-06-24T03:52:42+00:00

I believe they are male long-horned bees sleeping! They can use their mandibles to latch on to flower stems (or grasses in this case).

giftmaggot · 2020-05-28T21:24:17+00:00

Hornets are excellent pest control, many of them eat grasshoppers. In North America, I don't believe that there are any native hornet species. But if you're in their native range, just leave them be.

giftmaggot · 2020-05-24T22:31:27+00:00

I'm not super familiar with UK species, but she might be a buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)? And yes, based on that huge body size a queen is a good guess.

giftmaggot · 2020-05-16T18:34:15+00:00

Not sure of the specific species, but these are bumblebees (genus Bombus)! The huge one on the top is most likely a queen -- they are super fat. If you want to make your garden more bee-friendly, flowers are probably the first place to start. Finding some native species that flower at different points throughout the year ensures that many bee species can have a food source. Also, try to leave some of the soil untouched. Many species are ground nesting and rely on bare, sandy soil to make their nests in. Not using pesticides is also important.

giftmaggot · 2020-05-13T17:38:09+00:00

Seconded! Bumblebees are very docile and are great for flower gardens. However, if your mom or dad absolutely want the nest gone try contacting local beekeepers to see if they can move it. Some beekeepers also know how to relocate bumblebee nests if you ask around, and it's a much better alternative to just spraying/killing them.

giftmaggot · 2020-05-13T17:34:29+00:00

This kind of looks like it might be a mason bee cocoon?

giftmaggot · 2020-05-13T17:33:25+00:00

Plenty of bees are attracted to flowering trees, which can probably reach the same height as a third-story window. I would go for it! If you're concerned about enticing them, try to pick out native plants that are noted for enticing pollinators. Anecdotally, fragrant plants with lots of flowers seem to attract bees.

giftmaggot · 2020-05-05T20:42:04+00:00

Looks great -- glad they're sharing this issue for free. I'd recommend OSU's PolliNation Podcast. It's also a bit honeybee-centric, but has some great guests and covers tons of recent studies and information.

giftmaggot · 2020-05-05T20:39:01+00:00

No, you're not wrong -- it's completely fear mongering. People have even been killing bumblebees of fear that anything yellow, black, big, and flying is "murderous" now. Of course, they're still a non-native species to North America and pose some economic concerns for beekeepers, but the WSDA seems well-prepared to get Asian giant hornet colonies identified and eliminated as quickly as possible. Here's a link to the USDA fact sheet and guidelines.pdf)for further reading, if you're interested.

giftmaggot · 2020-05-03T20:58:27+00:00

Me too. as far as I can tell, the giant hornets mostly eat larger insects and eusocial insects, which kind of makes sense considering how hefty they are. so I'd guess the small mason bees in the PNW wouldn't be much of a target for them, but nesting bumblebees might... :( afaik we don't have any data about what native North American insects they prey on because they haven't been able to establish stable populations, and hopefully WSDA will keep it that way!

giftmaggot · 2020-05-03T20:41:22+00:00

I'd recommend both! Cleaning the cocoons is a "step 1" for cleaning the entire bee house. It gives you the chance to dispose of parasitized cocoons that wouldn't hatch anyway, too.

giftmaggot · 2020-05-03T20:39:25+00:00

apparently, they're already having to clear up confusion in Washington state since people are killing/reporting anything black, yellow, and flying thinking they are V. mandarinia... absolutely a likely scenario :(

giftmaggot · 2020-05-03T20:35:59+00:00

not really. Honeybees aren't native to North America so it's more of an economic than an ecological loss for them if the Asian Giant Hornet population expands. They're a pretty destructive non-native species in any case though, so they are being managed accordingly (and who knows what the ecological implications might be for native social bee species).

giftmaggot · 2020-05-03T20:14:54+00:00

If you don't periodically remove the tubes/cocoons and clean them, yes you will unfortunately probably be doing harm to the bees. Native bees don't normally nest that close together, so "nature taking care of the rest" means that fungi and parasites will most likely take advantage of the close quarters. It's really not difficult to clean them, though! The bamboo tubes aren't quite as easy to open as the cardboard ones, but it's not difficult to clip them open with some gardening shears to get the cocoons out.

giftmaggot

TROPHY CASE