Pollinators in Early November

 

Green Sweat bees are active from April through October. It is early November and they are still out and about in great numbers.  This won't be the case in another week since the warm weather will be over. Green sweat bees aren't the only pollinators still active either. Honey bees, carpenter bees, moths, mining bees, and other native ground bees are still out. Pennsylvania has approximately 400 species of native bees.  

By the time evening comes around and the sun goes down there will still be bees on the flowers. But they are barely moving due to being cold. 

 Several of the approximately 4,000 native species of wild bees in the United States, live right here in Marianna. 

Many wild bees make their show in early spring. They will fly out of their nesting cavities in Marianna, and other places, and go straight to pollinating and mating. And if you don't take the time to notice them, you will have missed some of the wild bees that are here for only a few short weeks.  

The article "Honey bees are not in peril. These bees are", was posted on Vox. It is very alarming news to those of us who raise native bees. Once you observe the rhythm of life of a solitary wild bee, you can't help but feel a connection to it. Small as they are, the love felt for them is often described as being similar to that of a beloved pet. Yes, really. Magic happens when you let it.

Another article on the National Wildlife Federation website titled "The Truth About Honey Bees", by Laura Tangley, is an informative read. It is no way of taking away the importance of honey bees. It's merely, to me, about finding a balance in the bee world.

I do think if we don't take some of the spotlights away from honeybees and put it onto wild bees, we will have a situation from which we cannot recover. And that would be devasting to the natural world, which includes us. We can do better than this, and we should.

Help wild bees by caring about them. This can be done through observation of wild bees, research, photography, writing, art, native flower planting that attracts wild bees, and avoidance of chemicals that can harm them. It's hard to care about something you know nothing about. Education is key to helping save wild bees.