Mason Bee Compilation 2020

Finishing off my "A Closer Look at Solitary Bees" series I had a few short clips of the Bees I assembled into a compilation. They were recorded at 60 FPS, so I slowed down the video by half and added some ambient music.

The video starts off with the Mason Bees visiting the Peach tree flowers in late February, one of the first trees to bloom during the late spring. Since the Bees emerge during this time as well it tends to be their primary source of nectar close to home. I have to thank my Bees for the Peaches we got this year, they were busy pollinating the flowers and making for a successful fruit yield.

Using my macro lens I get up close to the Bees, their long tongues can be seen probing the flowers and collecting the nectar. I was holding the camera by hand, but did my best to steady it. I need to find a better solution. As the large tripod is cumbersome and does not work well for capturing the quick moving Bees. I really need to be on my toes as they tend to only stick around for a few seconds and maybe a minute at best.

Before leaving the Peach tree, I captured some video of a Lady Bug poking around looking for stuff to eat, it was not after the Bees. Probably little mites that live in the flowers.

Around the seven minute mark in the video I walk over to my deck and check out the Bees warming themselves in the sun. Since its late winter when I recorded this its still chilly during the day. The males and females also mate up in the sunny spots of the yard so once in awhile I would see the males pouncing on the females.

The Holly bushes are another plant that tends to flower early on. It probably small white flowers that the Bees love. They will dive into the bushes to get to these flowers, to get to the nectar and to collect pollen for feeding their larva.

Around the eighteen minute mark I found some Solitary Bees, probably Mason Bees collecting mud from some empty ditches. I dug this area in preparation for the Asparagus. Since it was still uncovered at this point the Bees moved in and worked the mud into little clumps they can carry back to their homes. The Bees will use the mud to make cells inside the homes to lay their larva in. Every female Solitary Bee is a queen and will lay its own larva. Many of them in a single tunnel, ive seen two dozen eggs in a single tunnel when I was using the Bamboo tubes.

Watching the Bees collect the mud, they work side by side. Each on their own mission to build as many homes as possible in the short time they will be around. Only a few months before they leave for good, and then the cycle repeats in the early spring.

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