Photograph of Blue Orchard Mason Bee (Osmia lignaria)
There are a number of bees, called mason bees, that are very good at pollinating fruit trees, so much so that they are also known as orchard bees. These types of are blue in nature
Mason bees (members of the genus Osmia) and leaf cutter bees (members of the genus Megachile) are similar in many ways: they carry pollen on their bellies rather than on their hind legs and they nest in holes. When building their nests, mason bees do not use cut leaves they way that leaf cutters do; mason bees use clay to make partitions and to seal the entrance. This unique mud-building behavior leads to their common designation as
Unlike honey bees, blue orchard bees … well, don’t make honey. They also don’t work in colonies. And in the decade Watts has been working with them, he’s never been stung, but he says their sting is more like a mosquito bite.
