Tree Bees

[Lazurus]

I got a nest of Tree Bees in a birdhouse, apparently these are non aggressive and an invasive species, any one else got them?

[Stubby]

Great mid flight photo ! .

[Lazurus]

Great mid flight photo ! .

 

Ipad.... Yes I was surprised, quick little beggars to! I like his little saddlebags full of pollen.

[Pinkfoot]

Yes. First saw them year before last. Pleasant little things.

[treesrus]

had a colony last year, harmless enough, and of interest to the kids.

[Stubby]

Lovely little fellas . Do no harm to our other species and are good pollinators so I have just read . Males are stingless apparently .

[Lazurus]

The tree bee society emailed me the below info.......

 

The type of Bee you have is a Tree Bee, Bombus Hypnorum. In late February/early March of this year, the Queen will have come out of winter hibernation and found a nesting site which happens to be in your bird box! There she will build a small nest, about the size of your hands cupped together, and will lay eggs to bring up new Queens, foragers and males. Each nest contains around only 50 bees. You may start to see some activity on the outside in a few weeks – this isn’t the bees swarming and is actually stingless males waiting outside the nest for the new virgin Queens to fly out on a mating flight. It looks aggressive, but isn’t.

 

Around August/September when the newly mated Queen bees leave their nest and hibernate underground for the winter, the rest of the colony will gradually die off. The males are usually the first to leave and die off, as usually they will have just mated and after this they die. Any other foragers in the nest will wait until the Queens leave, then will leave and die off themselves. The nest doesn’t contain honey or wax like in a Honeybee nest and will just break down naturally and leave nothing behind.

[Chippy]

Think mine must have been on the go a bit longer than yours, its just about full now

[David Humphries]

Still buzzing about

 

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[TGB]

Lovely little fellas . Do no harm to our other species and are good pollinators so I have just read . Males are stingless apparently .

 

 

As the song goes, "The female of the species is more deadly than the male." Yep. Drones don't sting. And like most males of any species, they only have one thing on their minds.