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Halictus ligatus, Photo by Susan Chesloff This fairly small (~.5″ long) and slender (note thin waist in above picture) native bee is very common in the city. Like, Lasioglossum zephyrum (featured in an earlier Bee of the Week), this species is considered to be primitively eusocial. This means that individual bees live in groups with [...] To continue reading this post, click on the post title Wool Carder Bee, Photo by Susan Chesloff The attractive bee is commonly known as the Wool Carder Bee. It gets the name due to the behaviors of the female, which scrapes hairs off of leaves to create a nice soft nest where she then lays her eggs. If you have the common garden plant known [...] To continue reading this post, click on the post title Rooftop garden of bee watcher Reynold Weidenaar Rooftop gardens are very popular these days. These elevated oases can range from complete green roofs planted with a single plant such as sedum, to more diverse “meadow-like” landscapes with native wildflowers. Even relatively small rooftop planting efforts may have a positive impact on urban pollinators. Earlier this [...] To continue reading this post, click on the post title Megachile sculpturalis, Photo by Richard Warden Known as the Giant Asian Resin Bee, this large bee (almost as long as a bumble bee but skinnier and with a very big head) was introduced to the US in the 1990s. It may have been a “stow away” on a barge carrying wood furniture imported from Asia. [...] To continue reading this post, click on the post title Cicadas mating, Photo by Kevin Matteson Over the last couple weeks you have probably heard the rising crescendo of hundreds of cicadas “singing”. The sound is produced by structures called “timbals” on the males’ abdomens. Cicadas like to sing in hot, humid weather, thus the association (in my mind at least) of this sound with [...] To continue reading this post, click on the post title The Common Eastern Bumble Bee (Bombus impatiens), Photo by Kevin Matteson The ‘Common Eastern Bumble Bee’ is aptly named. It is the most common bumble bee in New York City and, at least in community gardens, the most abundant native bee species. Although this bumble bee is often observed on flowers, its nests are quite [...] To continue reading this post, click on the post title Melissodes bimaculata, Photo by Kevin Matteson This soil-nesting ‘long-horned’ bee (note the antennae) is extremely common right now (early August) and is easily identified— medium-sized (~1cm), all black with white hairs on the mid- and hind-legs. I often observe this bee on morning glory but it visits a variety of flowers. Melissodes bimaculata, Photos by [...] To continue reading this post, click on the post title Triepeolus lunatus on Purple cosmo. Photo by Richard Warden Bee Watcher Richard Warden sent in this awesome image of Triepeolus lunatus. I have posted before on flies that might be mistaken for bees, but this is a case of a bee that might be mistaken for a wasp. The latin root “lunatus” means crescent-shaped and [...] To continue reading this post, click on the post title Ever wondered what was taking dime-sized circular cuts from your rose bushes? The likely answer is female leaf-cutter bees. While the appearance of your rose bush may suffer a bit, take some solace from the fact that the bees do this for a very important purpose- they use the leaf cuttings to line their nest [...] To continue reading this post, click on the post title A block-long wildflower planting just north of Battery Park in lower Manhattan. Photo by Kevin Matteson. My wife and I recently took our 3-year old son down to lower Manhattan to ride the Staten Island Ferry (he loved it of course). While waiting for the next boat to arrive, we were pleasantly surprised to [...] To continue reading this post, click on the post title |
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