Worried about the bees

I think it was Katie59 who said that she hadn't seen any mason bees this year. I don't put up houses for them, but usually have several in my garden. I saw my first one yesterday.

Yes it was me. This is late, late, late for them. But I'm glad you've seen some.

Julie, possibly what you saw was the osmia californica, a cousin to the mason bees, or a different type of mason bee (depending who you read), but they come out at a different time than the 'orchard mason bee,' osmia lignaria. They come out right after the mason bees do. They live in the same kinds of houses masons do (and are sold in the same little tubes) as they are also a solitary bee.

I believe they go after a slightly different type of flower than the orchard masons. My orchard masons emerged eons ago and are long gone, even in my sun-challenged garden. My californicas have also all emerged, but due to the timing, I suspect that is what you saw. Unless there are other 'cousins' who come out even later, which wouldn't surprise me to learn at all.

Here's a link with some further info and a photo:

http://www.willowcreekapiary.com/Osmia_Californica.html

Soferdig: Thank you for coming to the defense of wasps - I think they are great. We provide water stations for them, which is basically just a terracotta under-plate, filled with small, rounded river rocks. They LOVE that. Some times, especially on hot days, 3-4 wasps hover at each plate, and the rocks provide places to safely land and take a good long drink.

That's so cool. Mine make a beeline (waspline?) for the garden when we water. I have never thought of putting out a dish, but we do have bird baths. Maybe that is enough??

Good idea. I too havenever done that, but we have ponds. I shall have to place rocks to water the buggars.

This is a paper nest that came from a tree outside of the building I work in. Of course they called the Orkin man and had him spray it. I begged him to leave it to dry and not destroy it. He cut it down and gave it to me about a week later. I think it's really neat!

That's a work of art. Shape and color.

It's beautiful. Imagine all the work that went into making that nest.

Found this in our lawnmower shed last summer. I thought it was pretty cool looking.

Looks like one of those hard type of mushroom that grows on rotten logs. Beautiful.

This message was edited Aug 10, 2010 9:25 AM

OMG that's a pretty one. Wonder what species of wasp made that one?

Two quick updates on bees/wasps this year. I was out in the garden a few days ago during a nice warm afternoon, sun and heat on the blooming sedums, and they were just covered with honeybees! I was so thrilled to see such a large group! I've had fewer bumblebees this year, although they have been here.

I have a nest of yellow jackets in the rafters just outside my office door. The son and husband were wanting to exterminate, but I convinced them that the yellowjackets were doing no damage and that I wanted them for the garden. I agreed that were they to become aggressive and start hassling people coming in and out of that door (which we use constantly) they could go. Otherwise, I wanted them left alone.
They have continued to peacefully exist and I have seen them often working the undersides of leaves in the garden. Last weekend I watched while a wasp systematically cut off and entire spider egg case and flew off with it. Unfortunately, it was the egg case of one of those darling little rose crab spiders, the white ones. I felt pretty sorry for the little spider.

I have been watching our bee population here, and there are definitely a lot less than last year. Still have a halfway decent amount of bumblebees, but I've noticed that they are less active than last year, spending hours at a time just sitting on one flower instead of buzzing around all day. Honeybees are pretty scarce at my place, I see just a few a day when the sun is out.

I had a few yellowjacket scouts hanging around the house at the beginning of summer, but they apparently didn't find a spot they liked for a nest, and moved on.

Pony---I love that you watch so closely. I love to watch the insects, birds and so forth, too. It's amazing what you can learn.

I am totally fascinated by bees- and terribly intimidated by wasps and yellowjackets... LOL But all of them are interesting to observe.

Update from here: Good numbers of honey bees and bumble bees. The smaller wild bees still "missing" to a large extent. I am going to assume it is just cyclical, and they'll be back next year.

As for me, and my comment of "Maybe I will pay for it one day", this year I got stung TWICE by a honey bee. Once I was just brushing past a Malva plant where they were all swarming, the next time I stepped in some white clover and got stung on the big toe.

Both times I had a terrible reaction, itching to the point of madness and swelling up terribly. When stung on the hand, the itching moved all up my arm and ended up with pain in my lymph glands under the arm. When stung on the toe, my whole foot got extremely swollen and the swelling also moved up my leg all the way up to the knee. I have an appointment at a "Bee Clinic" to test for allergy.

Still love the bees and the wasps. Just a bit wary of them right now :)

They just buzz around me and say hi, goodbye, seeya, bonjour, etc. I get stung about 2 to 3 times a summer and usually around the warm end of it. That hasn't occured this year. This global cooling has hit us big time the last 12 months. Burr. I wore a sweater on our jaunt up to the Canadian border all the time this last weekend. I hope the bee's and wasps don't have too tough a time with all of this cold.

Good news, Boel!! Well, not the part about the reactions to the sting. It's a good idea to test, I think.

Seems to me like the bees have already tested you, Boel. Sad to hear it. Isn't it strange to all of a sudden be stung by creatures that you've co-existed peacefully with for a long time?

I had a colony of bees in a tree near my front windows for much of August, they did not react to the Yellowjacket traps, where I trapped many in the back yard.

Bees are being weird, hardly any of my Asian pears got pollinated this year..

I have had a few bumble bees in my garden but certainly not as many as last year. Some honeybees, too, but not many. Fewer wasps as well, which is ok with me because they scare me. When there are wasps around my house they are mean and aggressive, and don't want to share space. The bumbles are my favorites and I wish more would come back.

Maybe next year will be better. I've done 0 spraying of any kind this year, even organic spraying. I generally don';t spray anyhow, except for shrubs that are troubled by weevils. This year I haven't even bothered with those. i'm trying to make it as hospitable as possible for bees.
I;m surprised that the wasps outside the office door have been so docile. Generally I do not care to be around yellow jackets as they tend to be curious about everything. But these have been entirely peaceful and have kept to themselves. And they are literally just outside the door coming and going constantly.

Pix, how diplomatic of you to say that yellow jackets are "curious" - I think they are absolutely mean!

Lots of yellow jackets by the water in Friday Harbor and at Lime Kiln last weekend. That usually means garbage sitting around somewhere.

But we didn't get stung, thank goodness.

I have a question about the honey bees. How do you tell a wild honey bee from a domestic one---or one that lives in a hive? I have observed a little bee up close in my GH. He comes in to get pollen from a blooming plant I have in there. He gets lots of orange pollen on his leg(?) and he isn't very large but larger than the masons, of course. Seems to be darker than the larger bees I see around. Maybe he is just a young one?

Maybe he's a bumblebee?

No, Gwen. Not as big as a bumblebee. I am pretty sure he is a honey bee.

I just happened onto this site and had to share. There's some great information and some great pictures here.

http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/nativebee.html

I always thought our native honey bees had red butts . .

All wasps are friendly and only occasionally do they get pissed off. First think about it big people walk past them without saying "Hi" ever, people never ask about their family and how are things, many humans swat at a friendly pass by when they ask "Whatssssss Buzzing", they inspect our food to see if it is healthy and we just run, the list is endless. We need to spend time with our best garden friends and get to know them.

Sofer, whatever you're smoking I want some.

I smoke wasp love day after day watching my friendly buzzers build homes amongst my house and plants. They talk and walk on my nose, shirt, fingers, and most importantly on my plants sucking the life out of the aphids that propose to slay my most succulent leaves. I listen to the music of their unending effort in the world of my garden. I saw the movie "August Rush" and fell in love with the idea that music is all around. I have started to hear it in my insects. Actually I ran across a man who wired a mic to the leaves and grasses and the symphony of his recordings are awesome! There is music everywhere with our little friends.

Sofer, the wasps definitely think that a good steak is very healthy.

I've had them mug me for a piece of chicken before. I wound up throwing it as far as I could so they'd follow it and I could get outta there. Hoodlums.

LOL Hoodlums for sure. Once they find a place in your garden that they like, they think they own the whole place.

Now, see, i'm pretty much with soferdig on this one, although I do admit that some of my little 'friends' can be less than friendly. I remember the bees in my front area last year. I was as kind as I could be, but they definitely did not want to share with me during pollen season. I just avoided that area until the flowers were bloomed out. Maybe they knew a lean year was coming. Who knows?I certainly did not have that problem this year.
In terms of the yellow jackets being mean, I wonder if it is your body chemistry that is to blame? Some people smell more attractive to bees and wasps than others and are more likely to get stung, at least that is my opinion on it. I wonder if science has born this out. I know that, for instance, my daughter is very likely to get bitten by those noseeum black flies when we are in areas where they exist. I never get bitten. I am also less likely to get bitten by mosquitos. My husband can be swarmed, and I'll just have a couple on me. Maybe they are just less curious about me.
I've found that an unmolested piece of protein at the edge of the eating area keeps most wasps busy during a picnic. They'd much rather eat from the piece that does not invite swatting than be on my plate. If you've ever watched yellow jackets clean the remains of a dead animal, you will appreciate the work these busy wasps do.
Steve, I just heard about this music project that a woman is working on by putting sound recording devices on different parts of a sailboat during a high speed race. I'm looking forward to seeing how that turns out.

Sofer, I like your take on the bees/wasps as well, even though I really try to avoid yellow jackets if at all possible. Maybe when I got stung last fall, the yellow jacket was criticizing the fact that I would not share my beer with him (stung on the hand that was holding the beer). Or maybe, like the slugs, he was just disapproving on my brand choice?

Bees I love, yellow jackets not so much. And I do think there is something to Pix's theory about some people being more attractive to biting and stinging insects than others. Mosquitoes love me, and the yellow jackets do as well.
http://www.scienceline.org/2007/09/ask-knight-mosquitoes/

I have known all my life that I am not a viable source of food to many insects. As a young child 4-5 I was trapped in a yellow jacket nest and covered and stung until I passed out. After this I never have had trouble with stings. I think the sting is an unwelcome method of wanting to be intimate with us. They just want to say they are in control, after all it is their children you are getting close to. And we are so BIG they don't have anyother option. When I pass by their nests I humm and I think it makes me less unusual.

I'm thinking "unusual" is not the first word to come to mind re Soferdig...