Bookstore Bees  !

Dear Folks,

     We have newly discovered residents - mason bees. For the last few years, in spring, once we opened doors and windows, we would often have lots of bees flying in and out of the shop. Both Cynthia and I spent big chunks of our lives as naturalists and this behavior puzzled us. They looked like honey bees but we couldn't figure out what they were doing in our shop instead of out pollinating flowers. We did notice that they seemed to like to hover around the Ikea bookcases inside the door.

    This morning, our neighbor Jen saw them and said they might be mason bees. I watched them more carefully and saw that they gravitated towards the holes in our Ikea uprights where we put the metal pins that the shelves hang on. These uprights have many, many holes and I saw the bees going in and out of them. I also finally noticed that some of the holes seemed to be capped over. When I looked Mason Bees up on the internet I found that this probably is what we have here. As I read I discovered that these bees are great pollinators, they tend to be solitary in that they don't nest together but do nest close by each other. Their natural nests are holes in trees made by the larvae of other insects burrowing out of trees. The mason bees gather honey and nectar, stuff it in the bottom of the hole until there is enough to support one larva and they then lay an egg on top of this food source and "mud" over the hole. Thus the name mason bee. Because they don't live in colonies they are a little less vulnerable to the pests that are bedevilling honey bees. They are also great pollinators so gardeners drill holes in blocks of wood and put them out in their garden to attract these garden friends. They also aren't aggressive unless really threatened so you can work around them in the garden, or in our bookstore.

    The larvae live on the pollen and nectar in their little cubby, then in late summer or fall they make a chrysallis and sleep through the winter. They are, right now, eating their way out of their year long home and heading out and mating and starting the cycle all over again. Here's a picture of what I suspect is the remains, on the floor below an upright,  of a cap of a mason bee juvenille who may have eaten his/her way out this morning. Thanks to morning coffee regular, Mark Wilson, who noticed this as I was telling him what we discovered. You too can come visit them. Soon, I'll be announcing our schedule of May events that may also lure you this way.

    Speaking of homes, we will be exhibiting this Sunday, May 1, (iff'n it doesn't rain like it did during the Library Festival a few weeks ago) at the Chestnut Hill Home and Garden Festival. We will have a booth at 8238 Germantown Avenue, right across from where East Southampton Avenue meets Germantown Avenue between the Old Melting Pot and the Jenks School. For more information visit the website.

Bee seeing you soon,

Greg and Cynthia