Posts Tagged: blue orchard bees

Five Reasons Why All This Rain Is Bad for Almond Pollination Season

It's not a good time to be a California almond grower or a beekeeper. And it's definitely not a good time to be a honey bee. The wind-whipped storms that are ravaging California are wreaking havoc on the state's almond pollination season, says honey...

During a sun break on Feb. 12, 2017, a pollen-laden honey bee heads for more almond blossoms in Benicia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

During a sun break on Feb. 12, 2017, a pollen-laden honey bee heads for more almond blossoms in Benicia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Adjusting her load of pollen, a honey bee buzzes toward another almond blossom on Feb. 12 in Benicia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Adjusting her load of pollen, a honey bee buzzes toward another almond blossom on Feb. 12 in Benicia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A honey bee with "saddlebags" of pollen foraging in an almond tree on Feb. 12 in Benicia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A honey bee with "saddlebags" of pollen foraging in an almond tree on Feb. 12 in Benicia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Go Native! Be a Native Bee 'Beekeeper'

If you're yearning to be a backyard beekeeper, "go native." "Go native" with native bees, that is. Many folks are building or buying bee condos to provide nesting sites for blue orchard bees (Osmia lignaria)  and leafcutting bees (Megachile...

Leafcutting bees heading home to their condo. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Leafcutting bees heading home to their condo. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis, shows Danielle Wishon of the California Department of Food and Agriculture a bee condo. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis, shows Danielle Wishon of the California Department of Food and Agriculture a bee condo. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Blue orchard bees on display at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Blue orchard bees on display at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Close-up of bee nesting sites shown March 2 at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Close-up of bee nesting sites shown March 2 at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Home Invasion!

When you install bee condos--those wooden blocks with holes drilled in them to attract nesting native bees--sometimes you get the unexpected. Like earwigs! Home invasion! Home invasion! We installed two bee condos, each about the size of a brick, in...

Earwig inside a blue orchard bee condo, which has larger holes than one for leafcutting bees. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Earwig inside a blue orchard bee condo, which has larger holes than one for leafcutting bees. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

This bee condo for leafcutting bees has 10 tenants. It is about the size of a brick and has smaller holes than a bee block for blue orchard bees. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Bee condo for leafcutting bees has 10 tenants. It is about the size of a brick. It has smaller holes than those for blue orchard bees. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Leafcutting bee provisioning her nest. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Leafcutting bee provisioning her nest. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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