Several days ago I noticed we had a completely sealed cell in our Mason Bee House. Yippie! This means there might be eggs inside that tube. Mason bees use mud to seal the entrance to their nests; protecting the eggs and the collected pollen provisions for the larvae. For some reason our mud is green...
If you'd like some weekend reading about Mason Bees:
I bought our bee house last winter from Gardener's Supply, but you can find them all over the web. Many Independent Garden Centers carry the houses; if you'd like to check them out in person before purchasing.
For more information about how vital a healthy pollinator population is to our existence check out:
***
Have a lovely weekend. I'll be back with more garden goodness soon!
Sweet! Curious about the green mud. Will check out the links you gave, thank you!
ReplyDeleteWe're still curious about the green stuff too. Noticed it was all packed in there after a couple of (really) stormy days. Wondering if it's some sort of grass clipping/moss mud. Nature is so rad!
DeleteVery cool!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jason.
DeleteLeafcutter bees (also wonderful native bees!) use small pieces of leaf they cut out of plants like lilacs to form nest cells in the same way mason bees do - this could be a leafcutter! How exciting that you have a resident!
ReplyDeleteHi Brenna,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your comment! Indeed! I think we do have a leafcutter bee as our resident. This world of bees is new and fascinating to me. Thank you again. Time to read up on them. :)