Tawny mining bee - Dilworth Mountain Park - Kelowna

One of many hundreds of mining bees exploring the paths at the park.  They rarely landed.

It was a sunny, bright spring day in Kelowna.  My daughter was visiting and walking the dog sounded like a fine idea.  We quite like the park on Dilworth Mountain.  It provides some excellent views of the city an Okanagan Lake.  While we were following the paths, one couldn't help notice the hurried buzzing of insects mere millimetres above the gravelled walkways.  Hundreds of them.  Flying pell-mell in every direction, and always atop the sunlit grains.

The only reason I could photograph them was because I had my birding equipment.  My 500 mm lens's minimum focus distance isn't meant for insects, but it does in a pinch.  It also allows me to photograph from a distance; my macro equipment would be better, but I would never get close enough.

The mining bees, so called because the females dig burrows up to a foot deep, like to nest in bare or patchy soil.  The pathways seem perfect for them, but so is the nearby barren soil adjacent to the paths.  Males and females alike flit about searching for mates and the perfect place to construct a nest.  

Active only in the early spring, the female bee will build a vertical shaft and create numerous brood chambers horizontally.  There she will lay 20-30 eggs and supply them with nectar and pollen from spring flowers.  Mining bees are very good pollinators of fruit trees whose spring flowers provide them with ample food for their young.

Interestingly enough, the cells the young mature in are lined with a waterproof, waxy material secreted by the female bees.  She rubs the substance around the cell walls to protect the contents from moisture.  The lining becomes smooth and impermeable to water.  The young mature over the rest of the summer and pupate, awaiting the following spring when they emerge from their underground nests ready to begin the next generation.

That's so cool.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspixdotcom@gmail.com