Texas Bee Watchers

Feynman on Bees and Flowers

On The Texas Bee Watchers website, I emphasize the benefits for bees of Texans planting Bee-Friendly Gardens. Bee-friendly gardens provide habitat and food for native bees, of course.  

But there is another benefit.

   

Over and over, I hear people who have started watching bees in their gardens or a public garden talk to me about the other things they notice. They mention particular plants that have tons of bees on them.  As they walk through their gardens, they mention the noise the bees make. They talk about beginning to see more lizards and birds and butterflies in their gardens. They start asking me about bee biology: Where do the bees spend the night? What do the males bees do all day?  Why are there different colors of pollen? What happens to bee nests when it rains? What do the bees do at night? Do birds eat bees? and on and on. They begin to wonder about butterflies. They think about the effect of pesticides on their bees.

Richard Feynman, a Noble Prize winner in Physics, describes the same thing in the following video.

 

Is a Cow Killer a bee, a wasp, or an ant?

I spoke to a wonderful group of people at the meeting of the Williamson County Native Plant Society last Thursday. I always learn a lot at these presentations from the questions people ask.

One question concerned wingless hymenopterans (bees, wasps, and ants). The question, in particular, concerned evolutionary aspects of Cow Killers. As commonly occurs, I had no idea.  So I’ve spent some time learning about Cow Killers in the last few days.

 So, why ask about them at a native bee talk?  Easy. 

 Turns out the females are parasitoid Wasps without wings who chew their way through the nests of ground-nesting solitary bees and bumble bees and lay their eggs in bee pupa growing in the nests. When the eggs of the Cow Killer wasps hatch, they eat the bee pupa. Yum.

Let’s get some of the biology facts down. First, Cow Killers are members of the Hymenoptera, but they are definitely NOT bees. They are not ants, either. They are actually predatory Wasps in the Mutillidae family.  Cow Killers (also known as Velvet Ants) are known by their scientific name, Dasymutilla occidentalis. There are other species of Dasymutilla found in Texas too. According to Texas A&M University Extension, Texas is also home to the Thistledown (or Gray Velvet) Ant. These little predatory wasps really do look like solitary bees!

The female Cow Killer doesn’t have wings (further adding to the identification confusion), but the male does. The female also has a very long stinger which she uses like a “multi-purpose stun-gun/venom injection apparatus” according to Dr. Eric Grissell in his indespensible book, Bees, Wasps and Ants: The Indespensable Role of Hymenoptera in Gardens. The male doesn’t have a stinger. The general scientific opinion seems to be that the sting of a Cow Killer is really bad–but probably not bad enough to bring down a cow!

I found a nice little article (here) that will give you a bit more detail on Cow Killers (Velvet Ants).

And here's a video from Youtube that shows a Velvet Ant (Cow Killer) searching for native bee nests on the ground.  The video also gives a nice talk about Cow Killers.

Watch out for these little girls when you are out in the wilds. This is one lady you do not want to pick up!

 

Aren't Honeybees Native Bees?

The Bay Area Basketmakers is a group of artists that make baskets. That's an understatement, actually. They make beautiful and unusual baskets. The last two years, I have been lucky enough to attend their annual retreat near Donner Pass in Northern California.  So what's this got to do with native bees?

Turns out basketmakers are native bee fans-big time!  

Their newsletter editor has been a friend of mine for several years. This year, while the ladies of the BABM showed me how to make a basket (it's not easy, folks!), they kindly agreed to make a few bee question and humor videos for us.  I'll be posting them over the next few weeks.

Here's our first question from the Bay Area Basket Makers.  If you didn't catch the earlier appearance of the BABM's on the Texas Bee Watchers website, click here.

 

 

 Hi, Jutta!  Now, I know you know the answer to this question, but for beewatchers out there in cyberspace who wonder about this . . . the answer is nope, nada, no way!

The honeybees  (Apis) can be found in the fossil record going back 40 million years or so. They probably started in tropical eastern Africa, and then migrated to Asia and Europe. So that pretty much means they are not native to the Western Hemisphere.

Turns out that our honeybees (Apis mellifera) actually came over from Europe. There is a historical record that states that the Virginia Company in London sent beehives over to Virginia with early colonists in 1622. Those bees were probably sent over for their ability to produce honey.

By 1800 the honeybees had crossed the Appalachians.

A different subspecies (Apis mellifera iberica--Spanish honeybees) was sent off to Brazil sometime between 1800 and 1839. Those bees were probably initially used for their wax production. The wax was used to make candles for the church.

Still another subspecies (Apis mellifera ligustica--Italian honeybees) was imported from Italy at the end of the 19th century (1820-1930).

Honeybees were present in Texas by 1821 when Stephen F. Austin began his foray into Texas. It's interesting to think that there were no honeybees at all in Texas at one time.

Honeybees didn't make it over the Rockies to California by themselves. In 1853, a man named Christopher Shelton managed to get a hive's worth of honeybees to an area near San Jose. The State of California put up a highway marker to mark the site. You can see it by clicking here.

Thanks for asking about Honeybees, Jutta, and say Hi to all the wonderful basketmakers in theBay Area Basket Makers!

Bees on Grass?

This summer I received an email from a Texas beewatcher wondering if native bees ever used pollen from grasses.  To answer that question, I went to Dr. Gordon Frankie, native bee flower and gardening expert. Here's what he had to say about native bees on grasses and on some other plants not usually associated with native bees.

  

 

A Leaf Cutter Bee and a Bumblebee in Slow Motion

Some people are real good at video. Here's a great video, in slow motion, of a Leaf Cutter bee (Megachilidae). Just click on the blue link below to see!

Slow Motion Leaf Cutter Bee

At the end of the video, you can clearly see the pollen carried on the underside of the abdomen of the bee. 

Here's another slow motion video of a bumblebee. If you ever wondered how a bumblebee moves its wings, this will answer that question for you.

Bumblebee Wings

Bee Babies?

Excellent question.  I guess the answer depends on what makes a good mom.  To answer this, I need to make sure you understand something about bee development. 

Bees, and most insects, undergo what scientists call Complete Metamorphosis. Complete Metamorphosis just means that the bee goes through four different stages in its life cycle: Egg, Larva, Pupa, and Adult. 

You’ve probably seen this with butterflies. Remember when you planted a host plant for a particular butterfly in your yard. Then in the spring, do you remember the little caterpillars (larvae) that seemed to eat the whole plant. And all you could find later was a pupa (chrysalis or cocoon) hanging from a stem? But, if you watched the pupa, one day you saw a big ole butterfly slowly crack open the pupa, stretch its wings, and fly away.  Well, that was Complete Metamorphosis.

Solitary bees do the same thing. The female solitary bee mates with a male solitary bee and then her work begins.  She has to find a suitable location for a nest. She has to build a nest by either digging a hole in the ground, using an existing hole (maybe a rodent hole), or finding a pithy stem or an old beetle hole to use as a nest hole. In many cases, she lines the nest with a material to help keep water out. She has to gather up enough nectar and pollen (a bee loaf) to feed the larva as it develops in the nest. She has to lay the egg on top of the bee loaf. She has to seal up the nest opening so the opening is hidden from predators. Whew! I’m getting tired already.

But then she’s done. Later, the egg will develop into a larva, eat the bee loaf, pupate, and emerge as a full-grown adult bee. 

There are no “Baby Bees.” Small bees are just small adult bees.

So her big mothering job is to lay an egg, make a nest, provision the nest with food, and seal up the nest. Now, she may do this several times, but the “mothering” is the same. 

So, I guess you could argue that she’s not much of a mother. But, without her careful preparation, there would not be a new generation of solitary bees. 

So I’d say she’s a pretty good mother. It’s just that her job is done pretty quickly. Your job as a mother is going to take considerably more work and last considerably longer. And you’ll be great at it!

More Bee Watcher Humor

Have Pollinators Always Had a Hard Time?

Peter G. Keven of The University of Guelph in Canada is a real native bee expert. I found this video during which he explains a bit about the history of native bees as pollinators of crops we like to eat. He talks about figs, dates, blueberries, alfalfa, and the bees that pollinate them (or not!) and the troubles they have faced over the years. He also discusses a bit about the role pesticides, habitat destruction, diseases, and parasites play in the ability of bees to provide their pollination services. The economic impact of these various factors will make you see these native bees in a whole new light. 

This is not a video about CCD and honeybees.

The talk was given at a conference in Canada a year or so ago, lasts only about 38 minutes, and is an excellent opportunity for Bee Watchers to learn from one of the few Native Bee Experts in the world. So find a cool beverage, find a shady place outside, fire up the wi-fi, and enjoy learning a bit more about native bees. 

You gotta love the wealth of information we now have easily available. When you finish the video, just be sure to set that cool drink down and go out in the sun, find some blooming plants, and appreciate those native bees.

Here's a separate link for the slideshow (On Pollinators and Their Conservation) that Dr. Keven uses in the video, in case you want to see the slides a bit better.

Farmers, bee, field borders, hedgerows, money and a challenge!

This video, Birds and Bees, is almost a challenge for Texans. The music, the 57 miles! Can we do more than 57 miles in Texas?

 

Last fall, we decided to put in a Demonstration Fencerow at the Bee Garden. It will give us a chance to talk about the value of creating or leaving intact fencerows alongside crops.  The plants along the fencerow can provide nesting areas, habitat, shelter, and food for native bees.

If you farm in Texas, you may be eligible to get some Farm Bill help to increase Pollinator Habitat on your farm.  Take a look at Using Farm Bill Programs to Increase Pollinator Conservation. It might provide some incentive to use native plants alongside your fields. (The pdf takes a few extra seconds to load. Don't give up!)

California has an active program to increase hedgerows on farming land. According to New Haven for Hedgerows and the video above, in 2009, California farmers and the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service planted the equivalent of 57 miles of new hedgerows along California farm fields. 

Come on Texans. Fifty-seven miles, surely we can beat that. Heck, there's probably several farms and ranches where 57 miles of hedgerows could be planted and you'd never leave the ranch!

Check out the USDA's Plant Materials Program in Texas. There's quite a lot of information here for getting your field borders and hedgerows started. Now, giddyup!

As Temps Rise, so does Bee Humor

It's going to be 95 today in Austin.  Besides being the "Live Music Capital of the World", Austin is also known for its slogan, "Keep Austin Weird."  Maybe I could add "Home of Bee Humor!"

But the bees are flying in the gardens. Mealy Blue Sage (Salvia farinacea)  is drawing tons of Carpenter Bees (Xylocopa sp.) and some Bee Watchers are relaxing and telling bee jokes while watching native bees.