Introduction To Native Bees

[riverbee]

a great pdf file on our native bees:
 
 Bee Basics: An Introduction To Our Native 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 minimato large carpenter bees. Most people do not realize that there were no honey bees in America before European settlers brought hives from Europe. These resourceful animals (insects)promptly managed to escape from domestication. As they had done for millennia in Europe and Asia, honey bees formed swarms and set up nests in hollow trees. Native pollinators, especially bees other than honey bees, have been pollinating the continent’s flowering plants since long before the arrival of honey bees. Even in today’s vastly altered landscapes, they continue to do the yeomen’s share of pollination, especially when it comes to native plants.The honey bee, remarkable as it is, does not know how to pollinate tomato or eggplant flowers. It does very poorly compared to native bees when pollinating many native plants, such as pumpkins, cherries, blueberries, and cranberries. Let us take a closer look at this forgotten treasure of native bees."
 
perhaps each of us might consider not only planting for our honey bees, but also our native bees, and providing nesting for those native bees that we can.

 this pdf covers:
 a variety of native bees and their value, history and morphology (anatomy)
 nesting
 foraging needs and floral specialization
 females and males
 families of bees
 conservation
 pollinator awareness
 what you can do
 resources
 additional readings

(i have added the pdf file in the event the link gets broken)

[skydiver]

thank you for the link, great info in it.

[Bakersdozen]

This spring there were some entomology students from the University of Nebraska that spoke to our bee club.  They had this display of identified bee species that are native to Nebraska and Kansas.  I took this picture with my phone, so anytime I see a native bee, I just pull out my phone and I can identify it.  It's been really handy to have. 
One of the student's recommended BEES An Identification and Native Plant Forage Guide by Heather Holm.  This books covers the Midwest, Great Lakes and Northeast United States.  Holm has written several books on native bees.

[Les]

If it weren't for the bumblebees, I would have no blueberries.  I am always amazed when one of my plants blooms, how many different pollinators are on the blooms.  The other day we were putting in a new pollinator flower bed and I kept noticing these tiny yellow jackets on the lavender I was planting.  I kept thinking they were being drawn to the fragrance.  I was so wrong.  I switched sides on the flower bed to continue planting and while waiting for the water to percolate down the planting hole, I noticed that these bees were going into one spot under the Mountain Mint.  I pulled back the stems and lo and behold, they were going into the ground.  I was blocking their entrance when I was on the other side of the bed.  Lucky they didn't nail me! My point is that the bees need areas of dirt to burrow for their nests.  We cover everything with mulch (we are obsessed with mulch in America) and that makes it difficult for them to find spots to make nests.