Bee World

• Author Dave Hunter is at the leading edge of bee and pollinator issues • Mason bees are part of the solution to honeybees’ decline • No other bee book addresses the topic with such depth and interest • Includes useful information about leafcutter bees too! The national media regularly features dire stories on honeybee colony collapse and its danger to our food supply. But there's another, unsung bee that has the potential to save the planet—the mason bee. Mason Bee Revolution explains how docile, hard-working, solitary mason bees (and their compatriots, the leafcutter bees) are even more productive pollinators than honeybees, and keeping them can be a fun, easy, backyard hobby for gardeners, conservationists, foodies, and families everywhere. Why these bees? Bee pollination is critical for about 80 percent of US agricultural crops, increasing crop value by an estimated $15 billion annually. Since 2006, nearly a third of all honeybee hives have been lost each year, due to parasites, pesticides, habitat loss, climate change, and a newer malady called Colony Collapse Disorder. While scientists search for answers to save the honeybee, Dave Hunter and his company, Crown Bees, are leading the effort to increase the population of other highly efficient pollinators: One mason bee can produce twelve pounds of cherries, via pollination, where it would take sixty honey bees to achieve the same. Mason Bee Revolution is an easy-to-follow guide to keeping both mason and leafcutter bees. It tells you how to set up, care for, and harvest your own bees and what types of plants and habitat encourage mason and leafcutter bees, as well as provides general information on other common pollinators and bee-related facts, projects, and personalities.

Get the buzz on bees with up-close and personal, stunning photographs of more than a hundred species. If a bee flies near you or if it lands on your arm, you might want to run away as fast as you can. Or maybe you freeze and hope the bee moves on quickly. No matter your strategy, one thing is certain: you're probably not appreciating the bee's fascinating beauty. But you're missing out! Bees are stunning to observe up close. Aliens or robots might come to mind when you gaze into a blue face with two giant, shiny black eyes. (That's right, bees can be blue, green, and red, too). InBees, the photography of Sam Droege and the USGS presents more than 100 of the most eye-catching varieties of bees found throughout the world. While bee nerds may appreciate the common honey bee or the rareAndrena violae, others can simply enjoy the wide selection of different body shapes, head configurations, unique antennae, and the stories that accompany them. The next time a bee joins your picnic, you might find yourself staring!

Listen to tiny tales from Buzzwing the hardworking honeybee. Combining nonfiction with a splash of fantasy, The Secret Life of Bees is a book to get lost in, time and again.

A beautifully illustrated introduction to the incredible variety of bees from around the world When many people think of bees, they are likely to picture the western domesticated honey bee, insects that live in large, socially complex societies inside a hive with a single queen and thousands of workers. But this familiar bee is just one of more than 20,000 species of bees—and almost none of the others is anything like it. In Bees of the World, Laurence Packer, one of the world’s foremost experts on wild bees, celebrates the amazing diversity of bees—from size and appearance to nests and social organization. Providing clear, accurate accounts of the seven bee families, Bees of the World presents all the key information on generic characteristics, habits, and habitat, illustrated with incredible and often rare photographs that show bees in their natural habitats—foraging, nesting, raising their young, and more. The book reveals the secrets of these extraordinary insects as well as their importance in the global ecosystem and the ways humans can help protect them. Provides a richly illustrated exploration of bees from around the world Examines more than 100 genera of bees, giving a taste of the remarkable breadth of bee appearance and biology Explores bee anatomy, behavior, classification, evolution, life cycle, and habitats