educate – Page 7

Cellophane bees are the real first sign of spring

Step aside robins, unequal cellophane bees (Colletes inaequalis) are the true harbingers of spring in the eastern US. Bees emerge on the first warm day, often when snow is still on the ground, and they refuel on flowers after a long winter. And, they are already out in Boston: in 2022, cellophane bees emerged on March 16th!

Unequal cellophane bees are incredibly abundant, especially in suburban areas, so they are easily spotted around town. Before you head out to find them, read this blog, check out this video, and explore our field identification guide. After you enjoy your time with them, be sure to report photos to iNaturalist!

*Colletes inaequalis* female sits in her nest entrance, ready for spring. Females dig long tunnels underground 1-2 feet in length!

Flight Season

Unequal cellophane bees are active in very early spring, usually before trees have leafed out, and are active for four to five weeks. In Massachusetts, they are typically active from mid-March through mid-April.

Appearance

Unequal cellophane bees are small—like macaroni, about 0.75x the size of a honey bee—with “cute” heart-shaped faces, sand-colored hair, and bold bands on their abdomen. Males have long antennae and thick mustaches. Females are bigger than males, with cleaner faces, shorter antennae, and long hairs on their legs for carrying pollen.

*Colletes inaequalis* are have bold stripes on their abdomens and have sand-colored hairs. Males (right) are smaller than females (left), with longer antennae and fuzzy mustaches.

Nesting habits

Unequal cellophane bees are easily spotted while nesting. Females build underground nests, excavating sand into a small mound at the surface called a tumulus (like an ant hill but with an entrance about the width of a pencil). They live in bee neighborhoods—termed aggregations—each of which can contain thousands of nests. In the first few weeks of the year, males can often be seen zooming low through the aggregation looking for mates.

Nesting aggregations typically appear on trampled, sandy south-facing slopes. Lakeshores, cemeteries, trampled picnic areas, sandy paths on the edge of the woods, and even backyards are all good places to look!

Cellophane bee nests occur in large aggregations, often in bare sandy soil. Each nest looks like a mini-volcano of sand, and females often sun themselves in the nest entrance.

Similar Species

Cellophane bees Colletes can appear similar to many mining bees Andrena that also nest below ground. But, Andrena have obvious facial foveae and parallel eye margins, which Colletes do not.

Comparison of *Colletes* vs. *Andrena* in the field.

Favorite Flowers

Unequal cellophane bees are not picky eaters. To attract them to your yard, plant spring-blooming trees like red maples Acer rubrum, apples Malus, eastern redbud Cercis canadensis, and serviceberry Amelanchier. They can also be spotted on garden bulb flowers like snowdrops, blue squill and crocuses.

*Colletes inaequalis* has a penchant for red maple (*Acer rubrum*) flowers.

Safety

You do not need to worry about being stung–cellophane bees are incredibly gentle! Even the biggest aggregations consisting of thousands of nests pose absolutely no threat to people or pets.

educate

Five easy ways to support pollinators in 2021

2020 was a rough year for everyone, including pollinators. Asian giant hornets arrived in Washington state, threatening honey bees; western Monarch butterfly numbers were the lowest in the past 30 years; neonicotinoid pesticides continue to be approved for use in the United States; and endangered rusty-patched bumble bees did not receive critical habitat because their biology is too poorly understood. That’s just the start.

Pollinators face a relentless barrage of threats from humans. The main factors driving pollinators declines include habitat loss, pesticides, climate change, light pollution, and the spread of exotic species and disease. Recently, scientists framed pollinator declines as “death by a thousand cuts,” underscoring that no single factor is solely responsible. Rather, the combination of multiple factors working in tandem is the greatest threat.

With this in mind, 2021 is a perfect year to resolve to make a small change in your lifestyle to support pollinators. Inspired by a recent list of actions to conserve insects, TPI proposes five actions you can take in 2021 to make a difference in the lives of urban pollinators:

1. Grow native plants. Native plants are beautiful and adapted to the local environment, meaning they require less water and fewer chemical inputs compared to ornamental plants. Even more, they offer food (pollen, nectar, leaves), nesting sites, and shelter for pollinators. Native plants also provide cultural benefits in the form of reconnecting community members to their local environments. Interested in growing natives? Check out our native planting guides and stay tuned for details regarding TPI’s native plant sale during 2021 national pollinator week.

Plant native goldenrod to assist eastern Monarch butterflies on their fall migration to Mexico.

2. Reduce your pesticide use. Pesticides are nasty chemicals that are widely used to suppress pest insects and weeds, but also cause non-target effects in pollinators. In spite of successful efforts in Europe to increase regulation on these pesticides, as well as ongoing campaigns here in the U.S., many harmful chemicals remain available to consumers worldwide. On average, lawns receive ten times more pesticides than do conventionally grown crops. Use pesticides judiciously and in a targeted way; avoid broad applications and claims by companies to “eradicate mosquitos.” Remember: any product that kills a mosquito also kills a bee.

3. Turn off your lights at night. Artificial light at night (ALAN) is one of most recognizable signatures of humanity from space. Yet, it also spells disaster for nocturnal pollinating insects like moths and beetles. Insects attracted to lights are easily picked off by predators and are worse at finding mates. As a result, insect populations suffer in areas with high ALAN such as cities. To curb declines of nocturnal pollinating insects, install motion-activated lights, replace bright blue-white lights with softer red-orange ones, or plant a moon garden containing night-blooming plants. Let’s keep our skies dark.

4. Shop local and support farmer’s markets. Many growers and vendors in Somerville and Medford near Tufts University (like the Somerville Winter Market and Neighborhood Produce) are committed to supporting pollinators by selling pesticide-free, locally-made products. Shop there as often as possible in order to avoid less insect-friendly alternatives at larger chain stores.

5. Educate others and share this post. Urban pollinator conservation depends on the active participation of the community. Become an advocate for pollinator conservation by writing to your politicians, installing a yard sign, or by simply talking about it—to your kids, your friends, your neighbors, your hairdressers, your bakers, your baristas. Teach them that bees come in all shapes and sizes or challenge them to notice their first monarch butterfly of the year. Simple awareness of pollinators—getting people to notice their environment—is the goal.

Have you made any pollinator resolutions for 2021? Let us know! We’d love to hear from you.

cultivate, educate

Plants and pollinators in our gardens

Over the past few months, TPI members have hard at work sifting through and analyzing the data we collected in summer 2020. Each week, three times per week, we identified the flowering plants in our gardens and counted flower-visiting insects. We’ve summarized the diversity of plants and insects found in our gardens on two new webpages: Plant Diversity and Pollinator Diversity. In short…

Our gardens contain more than 20 species each of native wildflowers. At least one species was blooming in our gardens each week between May and October. Some of the most popular native wildflowers of pollinators and humans alike are wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), culver’s root (Veronicastrum virginicum), blazing star (Liatris scariosa), new york ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis), and new england aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae). Do you have any of these plants in your garden?

Our urban garden is attractive to both people and pollinators!

Our gardens attracted over 115 species of insect pollinators. Some of those insects found food in our gardens: six different bumble bee species (Bombus spp.) collected pollen from sunflowers, sand wasps (Bembix americana) hunted flies, and gray hairstreak caterpillars (Strymon melinus) browsed on mountain mint. Other insects made their home in our gardens: furrow bees (Halictus sp.) and leaf-cutter bees (Megachile sp.) nested in the bare soils. Our gardens are just two years old and already they are supporting more insects than we could have imagined! We can’t wait to see what we find during our surveys in 2021.