Any other hobby entomologists here?

Pics
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I'm still looking for my Bald-Faced Hornet photos. They look like they're mean mugging me and it's neat. But I did find some other pretties!

A dragonfly I saved from a trail path but it's head was crooked lol
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A long horn beetle- I love these types! I even found one that fit in my fingernail!
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A micro monarch! I have a micro lense attachment and had fun last hatch
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Orchard Bee!
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Tussock moth
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Grasshopper
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I chased this dude down to take his photo!!! Tortoise Beetle! Second time I've seen one in my life! Yes, they are that shiny!
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TOMTE said:
Now that I'm thinking about beekeeping...

I love honey but I'm not supposed to have it (I'm on a low FODMAP diet for suspected IBS)... And I really would love to help the native bee population.

Honeybees are invasive in the United States and are a big part of the decimation of native bees and other pollenators here. So it would be cool to research structures for housing our native pollenators, caring for those instead!

Has anyone here ever looked into that? Might be a fun collaborative project!

I have a small bug house that mud daubers and paper wasps, and some mason bees love to use. I'm planning on nailing it to the outside of the chicken run. But I want to do something on a large scale eventually to help out the species that are most beneficial and struggling to make it because of the competition from honeybees!
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Our local Mason bees and orchard bees use our house as nests, as they (or the ones we have) lay like a cluster of single egg pockets. And some even lay in the ground. It was really neat watching them emerge and work.

As they are more solitary bees I'm not sure if been houses or just leaf litter buckets would be best?
 
PrettyBirdRocky said:
As they are more solitary bees I'm not sure if been houses or just leaf litter buckets would be best?
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I'm gonna have to do a lot of research on my native pollenators. But a biiiig bug house with all sorts of different materials for nesting and/or laying eggs in to cater to a wide variety of insects is what I'm thinking.

This mason wasp was just doing her thing at the bug house a few minutes ago!

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TOMTE said:
it would be cool to research structures for housing our native pollenators, caring for those instead!

Has anyone here ever looked into that? Might be a fun collaborative project!
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Many bee species here are solitary, and nest in the ground, walls, wood, etc. Although it's focused on UK species, for different types of habitat for different pollinators you might find the website of the Royal Entomological Society useful, here
https://www.royensoc.co.uk/
 
TOMTE said:
Honeybees are invasive in the United States and are a big part of the decimation of native bees and other pollenators here.
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Honeybees are native.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/fossil-shows-first-all-american-honeybee
TOMTE said:
But I want to do something on a large scale eventually to help out the species that are most beneficial and struggling to make it because of the competition from honeybees!
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Untrue, honeybees have been reintroduced in North America over 400 years ago! They haven't suddenly become competitive to other pollinators. In fact, they are so effective at pollinating that it creates more forage for other species of bees the following year. The reason pollinators and insects in general are in decline is mostly because of habitat loss, pesticides, and light pollution caused by LED lights.
https://phys.org/news/2021-08-streetlights-contribute-insect-population-declines.html
 
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Apis mellifera said:
Honeybees are native.
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Right. European honeybees, which were what was introduced to the US, are not native. Introduced species that are now widespread =/= native, and they can cause issues after all these years because of factors like shifts in weather patterns, climate, human intervention, etc.

I'll have to do more research because contrary to what you said I have read from several different sources (none off the top of my head) that honeybees do outcompete native species. But yes I know habitat loss and other human activity do impact numbers of native species. And this all may depend on region, too.

Adding this to my loooong list of things to study 😆
 

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