Here is a picture of my friend Ella looking at male and female mason bees milling around the entrance of their emergence shelter( upper left). She had never seen them so close. She watched them emerge from their little box or emergence shelter, several matings and extensive grooming by the males after mating. Even though it was 14C outside the yurt, temperatures inside the yurt reached 18C. This is a good temperature for emergence, mating and the females to fly off to find a food source nearby.
The home yurt is filled with nests and mason bee cocoons as the season progresses. When there is lots of food and bees, the whole yurt is filled. In this home yurt, few bees and nests have been set out at the onset
of the season.
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| Ella watching mason bees emerge and mate. |
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| Close-up of male mason bees outside their emergence shelter. |
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| full view of Home-yurt with Ella inside watching the bees emerge. |
