Good Morning! in 2018

[poultry_admin]

The bees? I saw today were iridescent green.

We have green sand wasps here. They come flying as soon as we dig in the sand. Then they try to get in the ears. Really annoying, but we have never been stung.

[poultry_admin]

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[SusanH]

The bees? I saw today were iridescent green.

We have green sand wasps here. They come flying as soon as we dig in the sand. Then they try to get in the ears. Really annoying, but we have never been stung.

Ugh glad it's not those. I've been googling all night trying to find something that plugs its nest with grass. It's hard enough to find Id pics of bees let alone what their nests look like. There is a whole industry around raising native bees. I had no idea! Apparently my bamboo tube house from Costco is not what people in the know would use. But everyone has to start somewhere. If my husband were still alive, I would put a better bee house on my Christmas list. Maybe the one from Crown Bees? Sigh. He used to put gifts under the tree from the dogs and cats and chickens since of course we are past believing in Santa...

[Brebis]

I wonder if they are the leaf cutter bees we see here. I first noticed them when we left some IKEA shelving on our back porch that has drilled holes in them for the pins to hold the shelves...they were all filled with neatly cut leaves! On closer inspection it was small solitary bees doing it.

[WLLady]

http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/MIS ... id_bee.htm
http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/mis ... d_bees.htm we have tons of the sweat bees around my place...and they build in long tubes and lay their eggs.
the wasps my hubby mentioned (sand wasps) are greeny yellow and the size of a yellow jacket (and MUCH nicer....)

[Killerbunny]

Yes we watched some carefully making burrows and collecting caterpillars to put in them. Fascinating.

[labradors]

My hose nozzle wouldn't work in the spring. Turned out that it was completely filled up with tiny brown leafy bits - obviously from some little bee-type who probably did it last year.

Linda

[SusanH]

I wonder if they are the leaf cutter bees we see here. I first noticed them when we left some IKEA shelving on our back porch that has drilled holes in them for the pins to hold the shelves...they were all filled with neatly cut leaves! On closer inspection it was small solitary bees doing it.

I have those same IKEA shelves - since university, that is, a very long time. Indestructible. Yes at least one is a leaf cutter. See the green plug in the 2nd pic. The three (one new today) in the 1st pic withe the tufts of dry grass show a different technique. I can't believe a bee could do that. What do you think?

[Killerbunny]

Oh neat!

[WLLady]

i want one. or two.
lol. we have some that build around the base of my fence posts, and on any vertical surface. mud daubers build huge long mud tubes on the walls of the shop and pieces of plywood etc....don't like those, they sting and are territorial so i tear them down because i'm a big meanie....the sand wasps i'll be in the garden and one will dig a burrow near me, and i swear they dig more efficiently than any dog i have ever known! it's pretty neat....glad there are some bees....i am thinking about getting a hive next year and putting it close to the garden. (or maybe in it)