Early bees

Most ground-nesting bees are called 'solitary' because they don't make hives or have the roles typical of social bees.

However, large numbers may nest in a relatively small area. In part, this is because desirable nest sites (with bare ground and fairly sandy soil) are often localized. The other reason is it serves reproduction.

When males emerge, they buzz around the area looking for females, usually just a few inches above the ground. When a male detects a female, he will follow into a tunnel.

The nest holes are visible in the sandy soil. They are about the diameter of a pencil. Some have small piles of excavated soil but others do not.

Bee Aware - Blogs and brochures focus on native bees

The increasing interest in pollinators is leading to many new resources that share information about native bees and native plants. Here are some of my favorites:

http://bumblebeewatch.blogspot.com (Dave Barr, Hamilton, Ontario)

Nelson DeBarros at Penn State created an interesting brochure "Conserving Wild Bees in Pennsylvania" http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/FreePubs/pdfs/uf023.pdf

Rachel Winfree's lab at Rutgers has one for New Jersey "Native Bee Benefits"
http://winfreelab.rutgers.edu/documents/NativeBeeBenefits2009.pdf

And finally, for global interest, here is a blog about insects and plants in India

http://ringsofsilverpv.blogspot.com/ (Arati in Bangalore)

Enjoy!

2010 events at Mary Beth Doyle Park

Natural Area Preservation has scheduled several events at Mary Beth Doyle Park in 2010.

Late April & early May - walk the path along Mallets Creek and enjoy the woodland wildflowers. Trout lily, trillium, may apple and other species will be blooming in profusion.

Saturday, June 5, 2010, noon - Celebrate World Environment Day by repairing trails and other stewardship activities.

Thursday, June 17, 2010, 7:00 PM - Join us for a nature hike.

Saturday, October 23, 2010, 10:00 AM - We'll continue our annual tradition of collecting seeds of native grasses at Swift Run, and then distributing them in old field areas at Doyle.

Saturday, November 13, 2010, 9:00 AM - we'll work on trails and other activities to improve the park.

All events are free and open to the public. Wear sturdy shoes and clothes appropriate for outdoor work. Please leave pets at home.

Ride the AATA #7 bus to the Packard entrance, or the #5 to the Platt Rd./Birch Hollow entrance.

Rain garden is awash with flowers

The rain garden near the Packard entrance of Mary Beth Doyle Park is thriving. I counted seven species in bloom this morning:

1. spiderwort
2. bee balm
3. mountain mint
4. boneset
5. evening primrose
6. sneezeweed
7. thimbleweed

The spiderwort and bee balm are nearly past, while boneset and thimbleweed are in early stages of their annual bloom.

A long season of bloom is desirable both for aesthetics and to support wildlife. Here's a bee on the boneset flowers.

Volunteers Build Better Trails

A group of volunteers from Thomson-Reuters did an outstanding job re-routing the trail to Swift Run Park on April 24, 2009.

We'll have more details, and (hopefully) some photos soon.

Michigan researchers find 166 bee species on 15 blueberry farms‏

A study published in the Annals of the Entomological Society of America (March 2009) shows that wild bees are effective pollinators of food crops. (Farmers in Michigan raised more than 100 million pounds of blueberries in 2007. Each berry was pollinated by a bee.)

The article is available at http://www.entsoc.org/wildbees.htm.

In the article "Wild Bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila) of the Michigan Highbush Blueberry Agroecosystem," authors Julianna K. Tuell (Michigan State University), John S. Ascher (American Museum of Natural History), and Rufus Isaacs (Michigan State University) report the results of a three-year study which took place on 15 southwestern Michigan blueberry farms. Using traps and direct observation, the authors identified 166 bee species, 112 of which were active during the blueberry blooming period. Many of these species visit more flowers per minute and deposit more pollen per visit than honey bees (Apis mellifera L.), and most of them are potential blueberry pollinators.

"This should help growers know what kinds of bees are in the fields so that they can make informed decisions about whether they should modify crop management practices in order to help conserve natural populations of bees," said Dr. Julianna Tuell.

Unlike honey bees, which live together in hives, most of the bees found by the authors were solitary bees that nest in the soil or in wood cavities. While soil-nesting bees may be difficult to manage, the authors see potential for cavity-nesting bees, such as several species of mason bees, to be managed by growers who can support their populations by providing nesting materials.

"Untreated bamboo or reeds are good materials because they provide natural variation in hole diameter to attract the broadest range of species," said Dr. Tuell. "There are also a number of commercially manufactured options that growers can use, such as foam blocks with pre-drilled holes and cardboard tubes made to a particular diameter to suit a particular species of interest. Drilling different sized holes in wood is another option. If a grower is interested in trying to build up populations of a particular species, there are also details about how to do so available online."

Besides blueberries, many of the species in this study also visit cherries, apples, and cranberries, and managed mason bees are already being used to pollinate cherry orchards.

Honeybee video shows pollination up close

While my primary interest is in bees native to the Americas, a video of honeybees shows nectar and pollen collection in breathtaking close ups.

Bees: tales from the hive (This program gives close-up views of honeybees in action - on flowers and inside their hive. The action photography is unparalleled. If you have any interest in honeybees this is a must-see.

Footage of bees' flower visits, with nectar and pollen collection, are breathtaking. The efforts of other creatures to enter the hive, and the bees' response, are vividly shown. Additional coverage inside the hive includes egg-laying, larval growth, and rivalry among would-be queens. Views of a mating flight are pristine.

The narration is American, and the photography is German. The location is somewhere in Europe. This is hardly noticeable in the first few minutes. But when the bee swarm enters a village, and the streetcar comes to a stop, you'll know this is not North America. The woodland sequence is more subtly European.

Seeing this you'll understand why honeybees have fascinated humans for millennia.