Bees, Gentler Even Than Tunicates
Wasps, that raggedy band of otherwise non-assigned hymanopteras, are attacking the mason bee eggs.
Mason bee season is over. They haven't been seen in weeks, but their eggs are stockpiled in a nesting block hung from a chestnut in the front yard. Safely, I thought, until next Spring, when the adult bees would emerge to mate, forage and lay more eggs. But wasps are tunneling through the mud cappings the bees build over their eggs, and are messing with the eggs, the pollen the bees placed in there for the newly hatched eggs, or both. One by one, the cappings are penetrated, and the world loses another bee to be.
They're not hurting anyone. Bees don't hurt anyone. Or anything. They're the ultimate fruitarians. They don't kill animals and eat them. They don't kill plants and eat them. They only sip a little nectar now and then, nectar that the plants made just for them. A bit of pollen gets stuck to them sometimes, but the plants like that, too.
Bees go through their whole lives without hurting anything or anyone. What else can say that? Maybe a turkey vulture. Let's not talk about turkey vultures. Let's stick to bees. They need nothing but that which is freely given.
As promised, there is exciting bee news ahead. Stay tuned.
Mason bee season is over. They haven't been seen in weeks, but their eggs are stockpiled in a nesting block hung from a chestnut in the front yard. Safely, I thought, until next Spring, when the adult bees would emerge to mate, forage and lay more eggs. But wasps are tunneling through the mud cappings the bees build over their eggs, and are messing with the eggs, the pollen the bees placed in there for the newly hatched eggs, or both. One by one, the cappings are penetrated, and the world loses another bee to be.
They're not hurting anyone. Bees don't hurt anyone. Or anything. They're the ultimate fruitarians. They don't kill animals and eat them. They don't kill plants and eat them. They only sip a little nectar now and then, nectar that the plants made just for them. A bit of pollen gets stuck to them sometimes, but the plants like that, too.
Bees go through their whole lives without hurting anything or anyone. What else can say that? Maybe a turkey vulture. Let's not talk about turkey vultures. Let's stick to bees. They need nothing but that which is freely given.
As promised, there is exciting bee news ahead. Stay tuned.
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