It's not exactly a new house for the bees, though it does provide the possibility for a multitude of new locations. While bee houses come in many different shapes and sizes they all pretty much fulfill the same function. They're a home for bees. (Shocking, I know.)
This pleasant looking little bee is one of many. She is a leafcutter bee (which I'm sure you already know because you've read all of my earlier posts) and she's just recently come out of her hole.
You know all about these polystyrene boards already, (also an earlier post) and how they're filled with leafcutter-bee-sized holes. In this picture you'll see empty holes, sealed holes, and holes that were recently chewed out of. Leafcutter bees have large mandibles (for their body size) that are useful for chewing through things. Also, they're good for cutting leaves. (Obviously.)
Here are a couple of them now. The left one would seem to be one of "those" bees as she's sticking her tongue out between her mandibles as she lies upside-down in her home. The one on the right would appear to be a bit more shy. They are, no doubt, very hungry from all the chewing they did today, but it's late in the day and these two probably won't head out to look for flowers until the morning.
They're quite small, but as a whole, they have a big job to do. These are only the first of many, and collectively, they're going to do a lot of work.
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