POLLINATORS IN ACTION SO LET THEM BEE!

Recently at Canterbury Park and other locations around the Birmingham area, many “ant hills” have popped up or swarms of “yellow jackets” have taken over yards.  These are not ant hills on the ground and the bees are not yellow jackets.  They are Miner Bees.

Miner bees are solitary bees that are great pollinators.  These bees will emerge, forage, mate, and lay eggs in a 4-6 week time span.  There can be a lot of them and look intimidating, but they are not aggressive; in fact, the males do not have any stingers!  Although the females do have stingers, they will not sting unless there is extreme provocation such as trying to catch one.

Each female digs a hole for her eggs which results in the mounds that can be seen.  These bees like to nest in close vicinity to each other, called aggregations, but only build and provide for their own nests.  The female forages for pollen to provide for her offspring until they emerge as adults the following year.  You may be able to see her enter the holes with pollen attached to her back legs.  If the mounds are stepped on or get covered up, it causes confusion for the female and may prevent her from providing for her offspring. 

Most of the “swarming” bees in the area over the mounds are the males waiting to mate with the females.  They are a little bit smaller than the females and generally outnumber them as well.  They are very motivated so it is a good thing they do not have stingers!

Miner bees and other solitary bees make up over 90% of the bee population.  They are not as glamorous and well known as honeybees or bumble bees, but they are pollinating superheroes!  Some solitary bees are 100 times more effective at pollinating than honeybees. 

The City of Mountain Brook has recognized the importance of all bees to our ecosystems and has taken steps to support our local pollinators.  One way is to help protect this aggregation of miner bees in Canterbury Park by leaving them to live out their normal life cycle and educating the public.  Because of the city’s efforts to protect the bees, Mountain Brook was just designated as Alabama’s first Bee City USA!  There are two Bee Campuses in Alabama: Auburn University and UAB.  To learn more about Bee City USA check out this website: www.beecityusa.org