Reed bench at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge (Tinicum, PA). Found a few plugged by mason bees but not as much activity as you'd expect on a warm spring day. #bees #philadelphia #phragmites #osmia

People in eastern North America: CHECK EMPTY SNAIL SHELLS FOR BEES! An iNaturalist user in Ohio just found an eastern snail-shell mason bee (Osmia conjuncta), and I am soooo envious. The species has been found in Louisiana, Tennessee, Kansas, Virginia, New York, and Ontario, too, though some of those are awaiting confirmation. #bees #hymenoptera #osmia #snails #shells #inaturalist #insects https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/270932596

This might be a record for me: 16 mason bee cocoons in a single nesting tube. The ones on the left are larger and likely all females. The smaller ones on the right are males, who emerge first and then wait for females to come out. It's really cool how hymenopterans can control the sex of eggs they lay (males are from unfertilized eggs). Osmia georgica. #InsectHotel #BeeHotel #bees #cocoons #insects #pollinators #hymenoptera #osmia #haplodiploidy

This summer I'm going to try luring the eastern shell-nesting mason bee (Osmia conjuncta) into my yard. The species occurs in Pennsylvania but is extremely rare, probably because its preferred shell, Anguispira kochi, is presumed to be locally extinct. But Ontario populations of the bee are thriving and seem completely happy to use shells of Cepaea (an invasive from Europe) so I thought I'd give them a try here. Yes, I know this is futile. #bees #osmia #insects #snails #shells #cepaea #pollinators #entomology #ontario #canada

Just another scene from the observation wing of my backyard insect hotel. I don't know whether they turn around after entering or whether they back in. #InsectHotel #BeeHotel #bees #osmia #insects

A newly eclosed Osmia georgica posing on cocoons that still have adults inside. This species is really easy on the eyes. And native! #osmia #bees #insects #pollinators

Visual guide to pests of mason bees. #InsectHotel #BeeHotel #bees #insects #osmia #wasps #mites #parasites https://extension.psu.edu/enemies-of-mason-bees

@nev Another cute bee you might try to find is Osmia inermis, a rarely-photographed species with a Palearctic distribution. Their mud-and-chewed-leaves brood chambers can be found by FLIPPING ROCKS. To narrow down which rocks to turn over you should look for pollen-laden mason bees disappearing into pebble fields. #bees #rocks #osmia #insects https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/203170093

Well, I just ordered a bag of snail shells from Etsy to add to my insect hotel. Apparently there are 3 species of mason bee in North America that nest in them, and one, Osmia conjuncta, might reasonably occur in Pennsylvania. Thought I'd give it a shot. Illustration shows Osmia bicolor (a European species); from Wood's 1883 book, Insects Abroad. #osmia #bees #snails #insects #entomology

Video of a female mason bee (Osmia sp.) backing out of a tunnel at my insect hotel. This is the observation wing (pulls out and has plexiglas cover) so I'd be delighted if she chose to nest there. #BeeHotel #InsectHotel #bees #insects #pollinators #osmia

Les abeilles sauvages printanières, comme ce mâle d'osmie cornue (Osmia cornuta), vont commencer à émerger. On peut leur donner un coup de pouce en mettant à leur disposition des plantes à floraison précoce, comme la bruyère ou le muscari.

Mini jardin-forêt urbain privé - Cognac (16) - 16/02/2024.

With eye month, #InsertAnInvert2024 has given me another excuse to talk about bees. How many eyes do you think bees have? I’ve been making art about bees for years, looking at photos and specimens and talking to entomologists but I only recently learned something which seems a basic fact of bee anatomy: they have FIVE eyes! More precisely, bees like this Osmia lignaria (a blue orchard mason bee) 1/n
#linocut #printmaking #sciart #bee #masonBee #Osmia #nativeBee #pollinators #blueberry

Pszczoły murarki już w kokonach. Spróbuję skorzystać z ładnej pogody, wyjać i oczyścić kokony :) Potem mam nadzieję znaleźć im miejsce w innych ogrodach, bo mam zdecydowaną nadwyżkę :D #pszczoly #murarki #masonbees #osmia

Osmia aurulenta Canon 7A EFS 60 2.8 f/5.6 1/320 iso: 100 Prague 4/22/2020 #Apidae #bees #Osmia #insects #hymenoptera #invertebrates #pollinators #macro #madows #grasslands

My lino print with collaged Japanese washi papers on a white mulberry leaf paper with bark inclusions shows blossoming cherry branches & two of our wild, native bees: the bumblebee (Bombus impatiens) and the Blue Orchard Mason Bee (Osmia lignaria). I printed it by hand on Japanese kozo (or mulberry paper), 16” x 20” with various collaged Japanese washi papers for the blossoms, bee bodies and wings.

I am interpreting the prompts quite loosely but I thought I would share this print for #InsertAnInvert2024 as the are ground-nest bees who live near us. My lino block print with collaged Japanese washi papers on a white mulberry leaf paper with bark inclusions shows blossoming cherry branches and two of our wild, native bees: the bumblebee (Bombus impatiens) and the Blue Orchard Mason Bee (Osmia lignaria). 1

For the #SciArtSeptember prompt “metallic” my linocut Osmia lignaria, the metallic blue orchard mason bee.

We think of bees as living in hives, but these bees live in reeds or natural holes which they divide into chambers with mud walls. We also tend to picture yellow and black stripes, but this small bee is blue to blue-green. 1/2