Why Blue Banded Bee

A few bees took up lodgings in our unfired earth pizza oven and wall a few years ago, I’ve watched their activities ever since. They are SO cute… and they have their housing sorted! The females builds a solitary burrow by herself in the earth (or mud brick in this case) with their mouth parts and line it with waterproof secretions, pollen and nectar for her brood -the nest is dry and a perfect temperature. Many Blue Banded Bees may build their nest burrows in the same spot, close to one another, like neighbouring houses in a village. Not only that the male blue-banded bees roost together in small groups at night, out in the open, hanging onto twigs or stems with their mandibles. They vigorously shake their legs and wiggle their abdomens when a new bee arrives to settle. Eventually they all tuck their legs under their bodies to sleep. After warming up in the morning they go on their daily routine of foraging and finding a female to mate with.