Hurrah!
Orchard mason bees (osmia lignaria) have started filling up the condo nesting block I drilled and put out for them early this spring. If you look carefully at the photo, you’ll see some of the holes in the block are black and some are grey. The grey holes are filled with mud and, I presume, bee larvae that will grow into next year’s adults.
Frankly, I had totally given up, despairing that my puny effort had been rebuffed. After all, it was a pretty crude affair. While I’d put it in a nice, warm sunny spot against a (temporary, I hope) metal plate holding soil for part of a raised bed, I do walk the path in front of it several times daily – might make it bit like living next to a freeway or under an airport flight path.
Besides, I’ve several spots with heavy, partly bare clay slopes peppered with small holes, which I presume are perfect natural homes for bees, beetles, etc. Plus, mason bees have been building their own Lummi Island condos far longer than people have. Maybe it was just wishful thinking, combined with the usual dose of human arrogance, for me to think that osmia lignaria would prefer my drilled-out block to more their traditional homes in tree stumps, downed logs and dried clay slopes.
Nonetheless, it looks like almost half of the holes are full of mason bees. I did have a moment’s panic today when I re-visited Washing State University’s site on osmia lignaria (ah, the fluid beauty of those syllables) to check the accuracy of my conclusions about my new condo residents: Uh-oh: Figure 4 shows both mason bee (rough plugs) and wasp-filled (smooth) nesting hole plugs in the same wooden block.
Afraid that my block had become a wasp home, I rushed out to check. Whew. 
The hole plugs are definitely rough; not a smooth one in the bunch. Peering closely, I saw a tiny black head that quickly retreated into one of the dark, empty holes: another bee! Grabbing my watering can, I soaked the soil where beans are growing above the condo.
If osmia lignaria mommas are nice enough to take a chance on my Lummi Island condo, the least I can do is provide them with fresh mud for solid doors and pollin sources for their babies.
Filed under: Butterflies, pollinators & other insects, Island living, gardening | Tagged: Lummi Island, lummi island condo, lummi island lodging, lummi island real estate, orchard mason bee, osmia lignaria, pollinators
That’s really interesting. I am just at the bird feeder stage — Jerry has made 2 of them for me, and some really beautiful birds are already coming. Maybe I’ll get to bees next.