Honey bees

We can all provide pesticide free flowers in our own gardens to feed the bees.

In the early spring, we supplement food for the bees by feeding them sugar water made specifically for them.

Honey bees live in colonies in bee hives.  We have  a few bee hives here at Calico Fields.

If you see a bee swarm, don't panic!  Call a local beekeeper to remove it for you.

A foraging bumble bee has a large pollen basket on each hind leg that is often loaded with pollen.

The most commonly encountered bumble bee in the eastern U.S.  Live in large colonies.

A threatened, native species of bumble bee.  Habitat loss, pesticide use, pollution & mites are reducing their numbers.

Found in the eastern U.S.  One of the few bumble bee populations that are not in decline.

A larger sized bee with a big, bulky appearance.  Females gather pollen from flowers in the Asteraceae family.

Ground nesting solitary bee digging vertical tunnels with chambers for the eggs.  Their short tongues restrict them to shallower flowers.

A solitary bee that nests underground. Friendly and non-aggressive.  They typically do not sting or bite.  Important to flower pollination.

A bee structure here at Calico Fields, designed to attract solitary bees.

Adults feed on flower nectar.  They collect small caterpillars to feed there young.

Rarely stings unless threatened.  Females burrow in the ground and lay their eggs on grubs (such as Japanese Beetle).  The wasp larvae consumes the grub as they grow.

Adults feed on flower nectar.  They burrow into the ground and lay their eggs on grubs, which are then consumed by the larvae.

Adults feed on flower nectar.  Females lay eggs in abandoned holes or hallow tubes like plant stems or branches.  Larvae feed on caterpillars.