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["Kieran &/or Donna" <holycow@frontiernet.net>]

http://www.ent.uga.edu/bees/pollination/other-pollinating-bees.html

 

 

What an interesting article!  We have plenty of wild bees, but I'd never thought how much they are limited in town, or what a surburbanite could do to help them.  Last year the Ayers pears that fell from a tree in town were heavily covered with honeybees and bumblebees, but not one yellowjacket or hornet.  I thought then how people being neatniks interfere with smaller creatures. 

    We have some fuzzy little ground nesting bees that work a flat muddy spot where we walk all the time.  They dig their little vertical holes there to start next year's generation.  What I find quite interesting is that it seems our dogs scrape up the clay with their front teeth and eat it.  There are several places the dogs do this, and I am quite sure they are finding the little bee grubs or pupae good eating.  I never see them eat dirt anywhere else.  Donna