mason bees
Given the news of bee die-offs in recent years, lots of people are getting into mason bees. Solitary, nonaggressive bees - and native to North America - they are hardworking garden pollinators. They lay their eggs in any small hole they can find - here, purpose-built paper straws in which they lay a succession of eggs - capping each egg cell with mud in an effort to keep predators out. This photo shows two bees - one outside the tubes, the other just emerging from one. Over the succeeding months, the eggs hatch and the larvae build cocoons for themselves, in which they complete the transformation into adult bees in time to emerge in the spring.
mason bees
Given the news of bee die-offs in recent years, lots of people are getting into mason bees. Solitary, nonaggressive bees - and native to North America - they are hardworking garden pollinators. They lay their eggs in any small hole they can find - here, purpose-built paper straws in which they lay a succession of eggs - capping each egg cell with mud in an effort to keep predators out. This photo shows two bees - one outside the tubes, the other just emerging from one. Over the succeeding months, the eggs hatch and the larvae build cocoons for themselves, in which they complete the transformation into adult bees in time to emerge in the spring.