It is the 3rd week of June and Osmia lignaria the early spring mason bees, and of course Osmia californica have stopped flying. They have left their offspring behind, and hopefully few parasites and predators will get to the developing larvae by next spring.
I have received a lot of interesting emails with photos that I want to share with you.
People are sending more detailed notes of their observations – all very interesting.
I have had relatively good news from the majority of mason bee producers. It seems there was enough reasonable good weather for good production along the west coast of NA. Of course, raccoons, flickers and ants have taken their toll. But overall, production will be adequate for replenishing their nests next year.
People are trying out different types of nests, bee attractants and different ways of setting out bees and protecting them from the weather.
I find this bee attractant very interesting although I have not heard whether it has been properly tested by scientists (as yet).
Here in BC rain and cool weather has been a large part of June. I am curious whether, there has been enough warmth for bee larvae to feed and develop into adult bees. In the fall when I open nests and examine the contents, I will be looking for the proportion of pollen lumps. If the percent pollen lumps is greater than 5%, it usually indicates cold and damp weather. Bee larvae have died of starvation because they were too cold to feed.
