During last year's sampling in July I noticed a lot of bees working under the bridge we also work under. They were gone by August, but they were here this year again. These are solitary tunneling bees (probably Anthophora). Each female works alone and constructs burrows which she stocks with pollen and eggs. Once finished she will seal up the burrow. Of course, since these animals do not work together females will occasionally steal from others and fights can break out. The advantage to being in a group is it protects from some predators. Parasitic flies that lay eggs which hatch faster and eat the developing bee larvae are the most common problems for these bees.
The bees were quite busy and you could hear them from quite distance.
Less than 50 meters away was the mud the bees were using to build with. Bees would fly back and forth to the mud patch to pick it up and return it to their construction site.
Mud pit at the bottom of this picture and you can just see the bridge support in the background where the bees were.
It certainly is summer time, the greenery was abundant and bright.
July from Dyke Creek looking back at the road.
Actually a staged shot of me "working". This was the final sample pool we were working in for the day.
Here are some actual pictures of me working at the pool.
I must have thought it was going to be a long day, because here I am only 2 hours after we started sucking wind as I bring fresh water back for the lampreys. The day went reasonably quickly and we finished tagging, we caught just over 100 lampreys.
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