Solitary bee female closeups

Closer in on the action, these female mason bees (Osmia rufa) on final approach to their nesting tunnels. The artificial nesting habitats provided have been a total success doubling the population of mason bees this year and costing us nothing but satisfaction. Come and see more on http://solitarybee.com

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• Solitary bees
• native bees
• bees

[Strumelia]

My few adults (about 10-12?) of the two species are seemingly doing well, three tubes are filled and plugged with mud and I see the females still coming and going in warm weather. Progress seems a bit slow, I guess because there are not large amount of bees in my colony yet- hoping there will be many more next year! I do plan to take good care of the cocoons during the winter.

[solitarybee]

@Strumelia It's great news that they have stayed around + you'll probably get a lot more plugged up by mid-May... my population more than doubles each year if clean tunnels are available.

[Strumelia]

Wonderful! these must be Osmia rufa...the red mason bee....how pretty they are! Looks so happy and warm in the sun.  :)

[solitarybee]

@Strumelia they are actually a population of Osmia cornuta, but I have just properly identified one rufa for sure, but other bees - more nimble may be rufa females also... not sure... how's your population doing?

[simbirdcom]

Quality video with great buzzing sound !

[solitarybee]

I was really pleased with the angle how this turned out - someone elsewhere said it should be projected onto a big screen as a scary movie. ^ ^

[airsoftgunner10]

i like these bees and carpenter bees (well the male carpenter bees) they always fly around my pool and some land on my arm and chill

[simbirdcom]

:-) It looks sunny... i think the tubes must face south for the warmth !