Our Native Bees

A New York Times 2018 Holiday Gift Selection Honey bees get all the press, but the fascinating story of North America’s native bees—an endangered species essential to our ecosystems and food supplies—is just as crucial. Through interviews with farmers, gardeners, scientists, and bee experts, Our Native Bees explores the importance of native bees and focuses on why they play a key role in gardening and agriculture. The people and stories are compelling: Paige Embry goes on a bee hunt with the world expert on the likely extinct Franklin’s bumble bee, raises blue orchard bees in her refrigerator, and learns about an organization that turns the out-of-play areas in golf courses into pollinator habitats. Our Native Bees is a fascinating, must-read for fans of natural history and science and anyone curious about bees.

Native bees are a hidden treasure. From alpine meadows in the national forests of the Rocky Mountains to the Sonoran Desert in the Coronado National Forest in Arizona and from the boreal forests of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska to the Ocala National Forest in Florida, bees can be found anywhere in North America, where flowers bloom. From forests to farms, from cities to wildlands, there are 4,000 native bee species in the United States, from the tiny Perdita minima to large carpenter bees. This illustrated and colorful pamphlet provides valued information about native bees --over 4,000 in population --varying in a wide array of sizes, shapes, and colors. They are also different in their life styles, the places they frequent, the nests they build, the flowers they visit, and their season of activity. Yet, they all provide an invaluable ecosystem service - pollination -to 80 percent of flowering plants. Blueberry bees, bumble bees, yellow jacket bees, carpenter bees, and more are explored, including the differences in their gender, nests, and geographical regions that they visit.

This book describes native bees generally and provides a complete guide to keeping Australian native stingless bees. It is richly illustrated with over 500 photos, drawings and charts to increase accessibility and aid learning. It is written by an expert who has spent his lifetime intimately engaged with these unique creatures. Keeping native stingless bees is a hot topic in Australia for commercial, environmental and recreational reasons. You can do something about the decline of pollinators by conserving native bees. Whether you keep a hive or two in your suburban garden, or want to use multiple hives on a commercial farm, this friendly guide has you covered. Bee biology, behaviour, nesting, social life and foraging; How to build your own native bee hive; How to transfer a bee colony to a hive box and propagate hives; All about sugarbag honey, including how to extract it from hives; Managing your hive; Identifying and dealing with pests; Using stingless bees for pollination - from small gardens to commercial crops; A complete list of Australia's stingless bee species, how to identify them, their characteristics, where they occur, and recommended hives; A readable summary of the latest research on native bees.

The ultimate bee book for bee enthusiasts and experts alike The Bees in Your Backyard provides an engaging introduction to the roughly 4,000 different bee species found in the United States and Canada, dispelling common myths about bees while offering essential tips for telling them apart in the field. The book features more than 900 stunning color photos of the bees living all around us—in our gardens and parks, along nature trails, and in the wild spaces between. It describes their natural history, including where they live, how they gather food, their role as pollinators, and even how to attract them to your own backyard. Ideal for amateur naturalists and experts alike, it gives detailed accounts of every bee family and genus in North America, describing key identification features, distributions, diets, nesting habits, and more. Provides the most comprehensive and accessible guide to all bees in the United States and Canada Features more than 900 full-color photos Offers helpful identification tips and pointers for studying bees Includes a full chapter on how to attract bees to your backyard

With the recent decline of the European honey bee, it is more important than ever to encourage the activity of other native pollinators to keep your flowers beautiful and your grains and produce plentiful. In Attracting Native Pollinators, you’ll find ideas for building nesting structures and creating a welcoming habitat for an array of diverse pollinators that includes not only bees, but butterflies, moths, and more. Take action and protect North America’s food supply for the future, while at the same time enjoying a happily bustling landscape.

A friendly, accessible insight into the weird, but wonderful world of bees in your garden From the common or garden bumblebees that nest in bird boxes, compost heaps and old mouse holes, making ‘Winnie the Pooh’ style honey pots to feed their babes, to the quirky wool carder bee; a solitary bee that combs the fluff from garden plants to line her brood cells and the amazing leaf cutter bee that carves chunks out of plant foliage to seal it’s egg chambers. This book will reveal the secrets and fascinating lives of the bees that live and breed in your garden, from buzz pollination, to the bee robbers that cheat the plants and steal nectar by stealth. With a chapter per season to explore what you are likely to see in your garden, great plants to grow to help them, plus other fascinating information on these secretive creatures, this book is designed to bring alive the world of garden before your very eyes.

In this eloquent plea for compassion and respect for all species, journalist and gardener Nancy Lawson describes why and how to welcome wildlife to our backyards. Through engaging anecdotes and inspired advice, profiles of home gardeners throughout the country, and interviews with scientists and horticulturalists, Lawson applies the broader lessons of ecology to our own outdoor spaces. Detailed chapters address planting for wildlife by choosing native species; providing habitats that shelter baby animals, as well as birds, bees, and butterflies; creating safe zones in the garden; cohabiting with creatures often regarded as pests; letting nature be your garden designer; and encouraging natural processes and evolution in the garden. The Humane Gardener fills a unique niche in describing simple principles for both attracting wildlife and peacefully resolving conflicts with all the creatures that share our world.

Bees are often thought of as yellow and black striped insects that live in hives and produce honey. However, Australia’s abundant native bees are incredibly diverse in their appearance and habits. Some are yellow and black but others have blue stripes, are iridescent green or wasp-like. Some are social but most are solitary. Some do build nests with wax but others use silk or plant material, burrow in soil or use holes in wood and even gumnuts! A Guide to Native Bees of Australia provides a detailed introduction to the estimated 2000 species of Australian bees. Illustrated with stunning photographs, it describes the form and function of bees, their life-cycle stages, nest architecture, sociality and relationships with plants. It also contains systematic accounts of the five families and 58 genera of Australian bees. Photomicrographs of morphological characters and identification keys allow identification of bees to genus level. Natural history enthusiasts, professional and amateur entomologists and beekeepers will find this an essential guide.