Wet, Sleepy Bees and a Cuckoo

With the welcome turn to damp, cool weather, it's fun to find the bees sleeping in flowers, sheltering from the rain. The bumblebee is waving its front leg as a warning to me because I'm getting too close. You can see marks on the flower to the right of the bee where it has been clinging to the petals.

We found two little species of native bees sheltering in calendula flowers.

ZZZZZZzzzzz. . . .

We also spotted a bumblebee I've never seen before, which I believe is a cuckoo bee, Bombus insularis. She lacks pollen baskets because she lays her eggs in other bumblebee nests.

Thirsty Bees in the Drought

It's hot and dry out there, and I have observed honeybees desperately seeking moisture. One worker bee followed me as I picked raspberries and sipped up the juice left behind on the nubs of the berries. I also saw bees mingling with wasps as they sipped drops of water from a drip hose on the sidewalk. Please remember to put out a shallow bowl of water with rocks, marbles, twigs, or corks to help the bees from falling in and drowning.

I found this male wool carder bee spending the night hugging a stalk of lavender. What a beautiful bed! He's done this for at least two nights and the first night he was biting into a lavender bud to help him hold on while he snoozed after a long day of sex and drinking. Those long hairs are a bit of a mystery, since he doesn't collect pollen.

I also saw this large leafcutter bee foraging in nasturtiums. Note the long nectar tubes in the flower you can see on the right of the flower--perfect for hummingbirds and long-tongued bees. Remember to give flowering plants water during the drought so they can produce nectar. Skip watering the lawn and pamper your flowers instead.