What have you done for them lately?
August 3, 2011
What have you done to help pollinators on your property or in your community? I’d love to get a discussion started here and share ideas so we can all benefit! Please tell us below what kinds of pollinator-friendly actions you have taken, however small. Little things add up!
Here’s my example to get you started: I planted a native garden to feed pollinators! Below are some of my favorites from my garden:
Entry filed under: Actions. Tags: actions to help pollinators, pollinators.
1. Amy | August 7, 2011 at 3:53 pm
I have a small garden with native wildflowers that provides something for pollinators throughout the growing season. I also minimize my use of pesticides and herbicides. I also talk to people about my garden. A neighborhood child was afraid of the bees in my garden. I explained that the bees weren't interested in us. So as long as we left them alone, we didn't need to worry about them.
Anyway,I found your site Googling on squash bees. I took a picture of one this morning, and it looks like there is a drop of liquid between its eyes:
http://amyhunter.net/ctm/2011%2008%2007_Garden_00…
I'm curious what the drop might be–nectar? water? Why would the bee have it there–is it carrying it someplace? I can't imagine it's not intentional. It was using a foot to wipe an eye while I was photographing it, but it doesn't seem to have been trying to dislodge the drop.
I'm fascinated, but can't find anything on Google. Thanks if you have any info!
2. Amy | August 7, 2011 at 6:45 pm
Oh! You know, I think I see the yellow mark. It's the lemon yellow patch right in front of his antennae, right? Since I don't know what I'm looking at (have never seen a squash bee before, let alone this magnified), that lemon yellow area looked like reflected highlights from the squash. That gave me the impression that the "bump" was a sphere of liquid. Especially since the darker areas around the edges looked like shadowing.
Thanks for the response…that's really interesting! I'm planning to put this picture (along with a couple of others from my garden) up on my website. Probably in 2 or 3 weeks. I'll link back to this thread when I do that so folks know where I learned about what you can see in the picture. Your site is really interesting.
3. athenarayne | August 7, 2011 at 10:59 pm
I'm glad I could help!
Yellow markings on the "face" are actually pretty common in male bees. Sometimes male bees have fuzz on their faces that females don't have. And, there are cases where both male and female bees have yellow on their faces! Just another neat thing about bees!
4. In the Garden « Amy Hunter | August 27, 2011 at 8:07 am
[...] Athena, who studies bumble bee foraging ecology, and she answered the second question for me here. It turns out what I thought was a drop of liquid was an illusion. The bright lemon yellow patch [...]