The temperature was certainly over 50 degrees F today
but I saw no bee activity. I guess the first couple of bees were trail blazers. By March 14, I expect some real activity.
No bees on the walls. Peaking of temperature just above 50 is not quite good enough for most bees. Just about another week and we will see acceptable temperatures consistently above 50
Cool but not cold, but no bees. I checked out condo 2 but there was no further activity. I will keep an eye on the first tube which had activity. I suppose it is just a bit too low on the temperature scale.
In any case, no bees are on the walls. I will check in the afternoon.
Condos are made with light, thin pine wood. I line the back of the condo with paper-covered Styrofoam(1 large sheet at one dollar at Dollar store). This allows the tubes to be easily removed in October. Also I take pieces of the Styrofoam and remove the paper, then I use the bare Styrofoam to cover the roof to keep the tubes dry during rain.
I use two kinds of materials for tubes. Black bamboo needs to be cut and shaped to get the maximum number of bamboo tubes into the condo. A special set of cutters is needed to shape the bamboo. The other material is white paper.
The cocoon cache is made from 6 things.
1. Large plastic candy jar
2. pillow bag (like a white screen)
3. 1/4 inch hardware cloth
4. milk bottle carrier
5. aluminum pie pan
6. large heavy rock
Please see the broken cocoon. So far I have only found two broken cocoons and only seen two bees.(Although some small insects were seen high on a wall, I could not be sure they were mason bees.) I assume my bees have found some tubes in nature . Hard to believe all the bees used only my condos.
So here is a view of one of the cocoons which have had an emerged bees.
I observed no bee activity in the yard or near the condos. The high today was 54. Bees want a few more degrees.
There is a reason why my mason bees are working.
List of flowers, currently in bloom
1. Winter Daphne 3 large bushes
2. Daffodil (miniature and standard size) about 2 dozen
3. Primrose one large plant
4. Hellebore (lenten rose) two large plants
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Plants which may bloom in next 4 weeks
1. Blueberries 10 bushes
2. Asian Pears 3 trees
I was sorting though the cocoons (very gently) when I came across a cocoon which looked a bit shriveled. I thought I would peel off the shell a inspect.
So I carefully peeled off the shell. Soon I discovered that the contents did appear to be an insect. So (thinking it was some sort of parasite) I peeled off the entire shell. Lo and behold a mason bee emerged.
I gave the bee the name Matilda because the bee was large which is a main characteristic of a female. I photographed her but she was a bit camera shy and she flew away (a good sign she is healthy). Basically, as soon as she was completely recovered from her ordeal of emerging from the cocoon, she took to the air. The photo shown is the best of the three photos which she "sat for" . Note that Matilda is not the bee in the video of the previous post. The name of the mason bee in the video is Bertha.
Upon inspecting the south wall of the house where condo 2 is mounted, I saw her on the window frame.
I observed two other bees which were quite small. Both were sitting high up on the wall, so I could not be sure they were mason bees. If they were mason bees, they would be males. I am giving the males the names Alex and George(family names). Of course, I couldn't tell you which is which.
1st egg laying
Today just after noon, I was observing Condo 2 which is on the south wall of the house. On the tenth row of tubes from the bottom on the right hand side of the condo I noticed the very first activity of the season.
Please see video which is included in this post. Incidentally, I examined the cocoon cache and noticed one broken open cocoon. I also noticed three shriveled cocoons (which indicates a parasite), I opened the shriveled cocoons and discovered nasty larvae of some nasty parasite. I smashed them with a rock.
See attached video of Seasons First Female laying eggs.
According to weather forecasts every day from now on will be a high of at least 50 F. I will accept the forecast and say by March 6 which should be seeing bees.
I will try to take photos of the first mason bees.
Stay tuned.
I checked the cocoons and found not a single cocoon has emerged. And the tubes are all empty. I will be keeping an eye on the tubes.
Temperature seems to hover just under 50 during mid day.
The mid day temperatures should be slightly over 50 for a few days to encourage the bees to emerge.