Backyard nest boxes for native bees

I have written several posts about different habitat improvement projects at schools - native pollinator gardens, bluebird nest boxes, etc.  Here is a habitat improvement project from my own yard. This weekend I used some scrap lumber, boards left over from another project, wood from an ash tree I had cut down, some other salvaged wood, and some bamboo to build a nesting box for native bees.  Other than the bamboo, the only things that I purchased for this project was some paint and some hardware to construct the frame.

Bee nesting box placed in the garden

First I built a frame out of some salvaged boards.  I wanted it to look like a small house with a peaked roof.  I had no plans for this so i just made them up as I went along.  Once the frame was done I gave it a coat of green spray paint.

Bee nesting box- made from almost all scrap, leftover, and recycled material

The next step was to fill the frame.  Many native bees next in pre-existing cavities in trees.  Usually these cavities are tunnels that were excavated by beetle larvae.  You can approximate the same thing with a drill.  Because bees come in various sizes, it is important to use different sizes of drill bits.  You may have to purchase long drill bits for this project as the ones included in most bit sets are too short.  Larger bees such as mason and leaf-cutter bees prefer holes that are 4 to 8 inches deep.  Smaller bees, like small carpenter bees, will nest in shorter tunnels.  I used several sizes of drill bits up to 1/4 inch in diameter to drill holes in sections of branches that I had stored for a project just like this.  I also cut sections of bamboo stems to fit in the frame.  When using bamboo, just make sure to leave a joint to plug the back of the stem.

Different-sized holes for different-sized bees

Constructing bee nest boxes does not need to be this involved.  In the past I have made several boxes out of short sections of log with a roof attached.

A simple bee nesting block made from a section of limb

Earlier this year, I buried the end of a 4-foot log upright in our garden and drilled holes in it.  It doesn't get much more simple than that.

A drilled log in the garden provides nesting habitat for lots of bees

So how can you tell is bees are using the nesting box?

The holes that you drilled will start to be plugged - either with mud, leaves, chewed wood, or some combination of all three.  This tells you that a bee has sealed the hole.  Behind that seal, a female bee has constructed several chambers in each of which she has deposited an egg and a pollen packet (food) before sealing off the chamber.  The larva will develop in their chamber and emerge as adults.  At this point of the year (mid-August), the larva will probably not emerge until next Spring.

Sealed chamber right in the middle of the picture

Two tunnels drilled in a knot on a pine log - sealed tunnel near the bottom of the knot.

It's not too late to make a bee nesting block/box for this year.  It is a simple way to help wildlife in your neighborhood.

Native Species Profile - White Turtlehead

To the average person, the names of many common wildflowers are wrapped in mystery.  Who was Joe Pye and why is a weed named after him?  What do ducks  and potatoes have in common? Other names are completely obvious.  If you see at a Lizard's Tail, it indeed looks like a lizard's tail - no imagination (or knowledge of microscopic plant anatomy, or obscure Etruscan mythology) is required to see how it acquired its name.
 Another plant with a delightfully obvious name is White Turtlehead. 

White Turtlehead (Chelone glabra)

Busy as a Bee

The temperatures the last few days have been below average for this time of year.  This morning at 8:00 it measured 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius).  These lower temperatures have caused many insects to remain inactive until later in the day, but not the bumble bees.

Common Eastern Bumble Bee (Bombus impatiens) nectaring on Nodding Wild Onion (Allium cernuum)

This Common Eastern Bumble Bee (Bombus impatiens) was busy foraging on Nodding Wild Onion (Allium cernuum) flowers in the Winn Elementary Pollinator Garden.  Like other insects, the body temperatures of bumble bees is tied to that of the ambient air temperature.  As the air temperature rises so does their body temperature; conversely, as the air temperature lowers so does their body temperature.  This means that if the air temperature is low, many insects are inactive or very sluggish.  To be able to fly a bumble bee's flight muscles must be at a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) - with an air temperature of only 50F (10C) this bee should have been inactive, but it was busy flying from flower to flower.

How is this possible?

Like humans (and many other animals - see my post on the Black-Capped Chickadee), bumble bees are able to shiver to warm themselves.  In cold temperatures, bumble bees can uncouple their flight muscles from their wings and vibrate them rapidly - the wings themselves do not move, only the muscles.  On a morning like today's, it may take them approximately 5 minutes to warm their thorax enough to enable flight.  During flight their thorax easily maintains this temperature (30-40 degrees C/ 86-104 degrees F), but when they land their body temperature begins to drop.  To maintain the ability to fly, at each stop the bee must continue to shiver.  This ability to regulate their own body temperature to a small degree means that bumble bees are able to remain active in air temperatures that ground most other insects.

For more information on the bumble bees get a copy of the book Bumblebee Economics by Bernd Heinrich, Ph.D.   Dr. Heinrich is a professor emeritus of biology at the University of Vermont.  His doctoral research focused on the body temperatures of bumble bees.  He later expanded his research (and that of others) to write Bumblebee Ecomonics.  I highly recommend any book by Dr. Heinrich - he is by far my favorite nature writer working today.

Connecting with the "Wild Life" - 24 August 2013

On Saturday August 24th, the Isabella County Parks & Recreation Department will be hosting a family event nature event at Deerfield Nature Park from 11:00AM to 3:00PM. 

I will be setting up a station at this event - I'm not sure yet what sort of goodies I will be bringing.

Names the Make Kids Laugh - Duck Potato

Take the word "Duck" and add "Potato" after it.  Duck Potato.  How could combining those two words not make a kid laugh?  What exactly is a Duck Potato?

The Duck Potato is found throughout most of North America, but is most common in the eastern United States.  Overall it is native every state of the Lower Forty-eight except Nevada.  It is found across Canada in all ten provinces.  It's range extends south through the Caribbean and into South America.  It has been introduced into (and is considered invasive in) Hawaii, Australia, and Europe.

With a range this large, why do more people not know about this plant?

Additions to the Menagerie

Yesterday I took a trip to Nature Discovery in Williamston, MI.  Jim and Carol McGrath (and their family) run Nature Discovery have operated Nature Discovery for the past 25 years.  Their home houses the largest private collection of Michigan Native reptiles and amphibians in the state.  Both trained biologists, Jim and Carol present amazing programs on reptiles and amphibians (and other nature topics) throughout the state of Michigan and beyond.  This business is their primary source of income. 

Once a month (usually the second Sunday) they open their home up to the public for a nature program.  For a $5 admission cost you can see most of the frogs, toads, salamanders, lizards, turtles, and snakes that call Michigan home.  Some species can even be held.  Yesterday's program was about Michigan's salamander species from the diminutive Red-backed Salamander to the aquatic Mudpuppy which can grow 18 inches in length.

Mudpuppy (Necturus maculosus) in a small aquarium for display during the Michigan Salamanders presentation

Also on display were a large number of giant silkworm moth caterpillars including Cecropia and Polyphemus.  For a small donation, visitors were able to take home several caterpillars to raise to adults. I currently have five large Cecropia caterpillars on our enclosed porch, happily munching away on Boxelder leaves.

One of the Cecropia Moth (Hyalophora cecropia) caterpillars

Not a Cecropia Moth!  This one was a Polyphemus Moth (Antheraea polyphemus) caterpillar.  I did not take any of these home - just some pictures.

If all goes according to plan, the caterpillars will soon go into cocoons where they will remain until next spring where they will emerge to look like this:

Cecropia Moth (Hyalophora cecropia)

I also took home this lovely creature:

That's a baby Black Rat Snake (Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta) - it will turn black over time.  The two adult female Rat Snakes at Nature Discovery recently laid a number of eggs, from which seven viable offspring hatched.  Because they have a large number of Rat Snakes already, Jim and Carol are looking for homes for the hatchlings.  Right now, any education institution that books a program with Nature Discovery can (if they want) adopt one of the hatchling Rat Snakes.

Because I have booked a number of programs in the past (and for the future) for our Environmental Education Day, Bird Day, and the Chippewa Valley Audubon Club, I was able to secure one of the hatchlings.  This youngster will join two Corn Snakes, a Tiger Salamander, and several turtles as pets in my wife's second grade classroom - everyone agrees that she has the "coolest" classroom. 

Chippewa Valley Audubon Club 2013-14 Meeting Schedule

The Chippewa Valley Audubon Club has released its meeting schedule for the 2013-14 meeting season.  All meetings are held the second Wednesday of the month (unless otherwise noted) at 7:00PM in the Annex of the Veterans Memorial Library, 301 S. University in Mt. Pleasant.  The meeting schedule is as follows:

11 September 2013

"Whitefish Point Bird Observatory"

•  Myles McNally talks about the iconic observatory at the tip of Whitefish Point in the eastern U.P. and some of the birds to be seen there. Myles is the chair of WPBO's Board of Directors and a frequent visitor to the Point.  WPBO's website and Facebook pages are also managed by Myles. 

09 October 2013

"Feral Swine"

• Escaped swine are a problem in neighboring counties and Isabella County may be next to experience them. Timothy Wilson from USDA Wildlife Services will discuss Feral Swine and their impact on our environment including health risks to citizens, agriculture, and wildlife.

05 November 2013

"Falconry"

•  Note this is not the usual date. Kory Koch from Midwest Aerial Solutions will give a program on the sport of falconry.  Some topics will include permits, training of both falcons and falconers, hunting with falcons, and the use of falcons to reduce damage caused by wild birds to fields, orchards, and public places.  There will be live birds.

11 December 2013

"Club Member Sharing Night"

• Members are invited to bring digital pictures, prints, artwork, crafts or other memorabilia highlighting outdoor activities.

08 January 2014

"Bringing Back the Cestnut Trees"

• Our speaker, Dr. Dennis Fulbright, a plant pathologist at MSU for 30 years, will talk on the habitat and history of the American Chestnut, the catastrophic blight that almost destroyed the species and the efforts to re-establish it.  He will also discuss opportunities to support this, including access to seedlings.

12 February 2014

"Forgotten Western Journals of John James Audubon – What Kind of Conservationist Was He?"

•  The discovery of three original journals from Audubon’s 1843 expedition to the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers leads us to a new and more accurate understanding of what the namesake of the Audubon Society actually thought about how humans should relate to wildlife.  Throughout his career, his gunning ethic was a messy work in progress, but by the time he was done (1851), he was one of the first to advocate for the ethical consideration of birds and human restraint in the environment. Daniel Patterson discusses.

12 March 2014

"Bats, Spiders, Pollinators"

• This topic runs the gamut abut pollinators of our plants. Robin Hayes from Bat Conservation of Michigan will discuss the importance of pollinators but also less known contributors to plant survival such as bats and spiders.

09 April 2014

"Wildflowers of the White Pine Trail"

•  Dr. Ralph Crew highlights the wildflowers that can be seen along this rail trail that is actually a linear State park.

14 May 2014

"Aquatic Invertebrates"

•  Mike LeValley will present a program about the denizens of our swamps, bogs and ephemeral ponds.