The sooth sayer once said to Cesar "beware the ides of march"

March 15  is the   Ides of March

Below are notes posted at 1:35 pm. on March 15.

Temperature has reached 55º F
One of Fred's brothers felt the temperature and now a third
tube break out has occurred.
Now we have (at least) 3 males on the property.  Fortunately, I have daffodil
flowers. The mason-bees seem to like them.  Also, the dandelion flowers are
popular with the mason-bees. Females spend lots of time on the dandelion
weed.  I am beginning to look at dandelion flowers as more of a friend than
an enemy.  I have a winter daphne shrub. So far, the mason-bees do not seem to have
interest in the winterer daphne.  Too bad, because the winter daphne is covered with little flowers.

I am identifying my bee condos as condo-1 and condo-2.  Condo-1 was purchased last year and condo-2 was purchase this year.
Condo-1 was a simple design with only bamboo (various diameters). I ripped out all the bamboo and replaced with cardboard/paper-lined tubes.
Condo-2 is a better design. While it does use some bamboo tubes, the center part is router made and is removable.
I modified both condos with a plastic roof.  I cut pieces from Costco packaging for fresh apples.  The plastic cover juts out from the condo so that no rain can touch my precious mason-bee tubes.

So all three break-out tubes are installed in condo-2.  It has a total of 8 tubes.
Condo-1 also has 8 tubes.
I think the reason condo-2 has all the break-outs is that it is located near an inside corner of the house (location may trap a little bit of heat).
Both condos are located facing the south. And both get the western sun.

One interesting, the breakout that occurred today is a very tiny hole.  Those males are so small, their breakouts are always small.  The first breakout has now expanded, so I suspect that a female may have emerged from that tube. Females look to be three or four times the size of the males.

By day's end, all four tubes in condo-2 have breakouts.  No breakouts in condo-1.
I think condo-2 being mounted near and inside corner of the house is the difference.
It probably traps just  a little heat and thus the bees get moving.