![]() It’s also reassuring to understand that native bees aren’t aggressive. Bees typically have fuzzy bodies to help collect pollen, including specialized hairs on their legs or abdomen. A decent camera can be helpful, but a late generation cell phone is perfectly suitable as well.įirst, it’s helpful to distinguish bees from flies and wasps ( The Bees of North Carolina: An Identification Guide | NC State Extension Publications (). Unlike birding, you don’t need to get up early and you don’t need fancy binoculars. This summer, I’ve seen a staggering array of bees in my own garden and neighborhood park, both just over a mile from uptown Charlotte.Ĭasual bee observation couldn’t be easier. It’s possible to have a similar experience in your own backyard. Sweat bees and bumblebees were jumping from one to another, often demonstrating a clear preference for common milkweed over the coreopsis and rudbeckia. “I couldn’t tear myself away from the flowers,” she said. Wildlife Resources Commission, was in the Uwharries to conduct point counts targeting a list of priority bird species, but she kept getting distracted. Garrison, the Eastern Piedmont habitat conservation coordinator with N.C. That’s how Gabriela Garrison described one of the fields we’ve converted to native warm season grasses and wildflowers. Therefore, no management is needed (besides planting more flowers for them to pollinate!).Bee nirvana. Honey bees and bicolored striped-sweat bees are both beneficial insects and provide extremely important pollination services in both agricultural and residential areas. If an allergic reaction occurs, seek medical attention immediately. Swarming honey bees are generally docile, however it is always possible to get stung. In this case, it is best to call local apiarists (beekeepers) to have the swarm safely removed and relocated. Most of the time a honey bee swarm will go unnoticed, but occasionally they can occur on houses, or even on a person’s car. This mass exodus event is known as swarming, and its sole purpose is to start a new colony. When a honey bee colony becomes too large or crowded, the queen will lay eggs that will eventually become new queens, and she will promptly leave the hive, taking a large portion of the workers with her. ![]() Female bicolored striped-sweat with metallic green head and thorax foraging for food. The second generation of females and males emerge in late summer, where mating occurs, males die off and the females overwinter in their natal nests.įigure 6. Mated females from the previous year emerge in the spring and begin to construct a nest and lay eggs. There are two generations of females and one generation of males each year. Nests are constructed in the ground in sparsely vegetated areas, which can include bare spots in yards, as well as garden beds. Bicolored striped-sweat bees do not have large colonies like the honeybee, but they do have small aggregations, where each female is responsible for her own young. They forage on a wide range of flowers, but are commonly found on coneflowers, asters and sunflowers, where pollen is collected on their hind legs (Figure 6). They have a bright, metallic-green head and thorax with a striped black and white (female) or yellow (male) abdomen (Figure 5). The bicolored striped-sweat bee is just one of many native bee species found in South Dakota. The native bicolored striped-sweat bee on a sunflower. The queen has a long abdomen that extends past the wings, is the largest bee in the colony at approximately 20 to 25 mm in length and can live up to four years (Figure 4).įigure 5. Drones are all male, lack a stinger and have large eyes that touch at the top of the head (Figure 3). ![]() Worker bees are also solely responsible for looking after young and foraging for food. Workers range in size from 11 to 15 mm, are all female, and make up the majority of the colony (Figure 1). Every honey bee colony consists of three unique castes (workers, drones and a queen). Honey bees are social insects that have large perennial colonies, reaching upwards of 60,000 individuals later in the growing season. The hair helps with the collection of pollen while foraging from flower to flower (Figure 2). Dense buff-colored hairs cover the head, thorax, abdomen and eyes. Honey bees are small, winged insects that are golden brown with dark brown bands across the abdomen (Figure 1). Since their introduction, they have played a major role in pollinating everything from agricultural crops to backyard gardens. Honey bees are a non-native species that were brought into North America from Europe in the 17th century. Adult honey bee worker with large pollen sacs on the hind legs. ![]()
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