Vermont Wild Bee Survey's Journal

Join this project and get the weekly journal posts with tips and targets to help you learn more about the bees around you and to help us map the distribution of these important pollinators in Vermont. As a project of the Vermont Atlas of Life at the Vermont Center for Ecostudies, the information provided will be focused on the Green Mountain State, but will certainly be relevant elsewhere in the region. The “missions” posted here will often link to the newly released species accounts on the VAL project page:

https://val.vtecostudies.org/projects/vtbees/bees-of-vt/

This online resource also includes a simplified key to help backyard bee watchers identify what they are seeing and contextualize species or genera they identify. We strongly encourage everyone to photograph what they find and post observations to iNaturalist, where they will be automatically included in this project and be used by the Vermont Wild Bee Survey.

For centuries of people in temperate North America, one of the first sources of sugar in the spring has been sap from trees (primarily Maple and Birch). Not surprisingly, humans aren’t the only ones to take advantage of this resource. On the next warm day (50°+ ), if you can find a wounded maple or sap bucket, there is a chance there will be bees (and other insects) around. For at least the past two seasons, the first bee records of spring have been male Frigid Mining Bees (Andrena frigida) associated with maple sap. As a side note, males of many genera emerge a few days before the females (though in other groups, the males aren't born until the end of the season).

Several other Mining Bee species (Genus Andrena) and the Unequal Cellophane Bee (Colletes inaequalis) have also been found in late March or early April on maples (including Box Elder). If you don’t have sap buckets nearby, recently cut stumps - either by humans or beavers - can also attract bees. The same phenomenon has been documented on birch, which produced sap a few weeks later in the season, thus may attract a wider variety of bees. As an added bonus, the cool weather likely means the bees will be moving slowly, providing a good chance to practice your photography skills.

Links to explore
Frigid Mining Bee: https://val.vtecostudies.org/projects/vtbees/andrena-frigida/
Mining Bees (Genus Andrena): https://val.vtecostudies.org/projects/vtbees/andrena/
Unequal Cellophane Bee: https://val.vtecostudies.org/projects/vtbees/colletes-inaequalis/
Photography tips: https://val.vtecostudies.org/projects/vtbees/photography/

The warm weather of the past week provided several surprises, including the first March records (that we know of) for Lasioglossum, Furrow Bees (Genus Halictus), and the Yellow-banded Bumble bee (Bombus terricola). The weather forecast for the coming week looks less ideal, but there will likely be some activity on the warmer days. In addition to keeping an eye on maple sap (see last week's post), it's also worth looking for any early flowers. Crocus and Snowdrops (Genus Galanthus) are up in some yards and gardens and are likely to attract a variety of early bees.

One species in particular to be on the lookout for is the Blue Orchard Bee (Osmia lignaria). This is a relatively large, blue bee that has, at least historically, been common and widespread in the early spring, including in suburban areas. We are still gathering data, but there is some thought that it has declined in the last decade. Hopefully with enough iNaturalist observers out looking, we can get a better idea of its current status and distribution.

Check out the species account for more information and identification tips: https://val.vtecostudies.org/projects/vtbees/osmia-lignaria/