Happy Mason Bees!

Wow.  My bees are nesting like crazy, taking full advantage of the glorious, sunny weather we’ve been enjoying in the east.  I’ve taken literally hundreds of photos, but posted only my favorites in the 2010 Spring Hatch Gallery, so hope you enjoy them.

Newly-hatched OMB!

I had an interesting experience yesterday.  I attended a presentation on Native Bees at a local park, given by someone who is known to be very knowledgable.  His power point presentation contained many photos of bees, but almost every one depicted a non-native Hornfaced Bee, rather than an Orchard Mason Bee (even though he kept referring to them as OMB’s.)  He described the thousands of bee cocoons he puts out each spring, and I cringed at the thought of thousands more non-natives using up the resources that are needed by our Orchard Mason Bees. But Hornfaced Bees are also excellent pollinators of spring plants, and as you can see, they’re pretty darned cute – well, sort of.

Hornfaced Just Chillin'

So here’s the dilemma:  My mission is to increase the populations of our native bees (and to help other people do the same) so what do I do with the Hornfaced cocoons I end up with every year?  I always mark the nesting tubes with red when I see nesting by a Hornfaced bee, so there will be no question what’s developing in there.  I could easily remove those straws after the female dies, and destroy them (they’d still be little larvae, not yet fully formed bees) but is that really the right thing to do?

Luckily, I’ve got a few months before I have to decide, but would love to hear your thoughts.

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