A few weeks ago, I received a shipment of mason bee cocoons from Crown Bees for my native bee house. I could already hear the little guys buzzing around before I’d even opened the box, and sure enough, several male bees had already emerged in transit.
One, however, was just starting to wake up from his winter slumber. I was fortunate to capture his emergence on camera! The whole process took about 40 minutes, but you can watch the fascinating sequence in a shortened span of 2.5 minutes.
I just love how he preens himself in the end… wiping the sleep from his eyes (at least, that’s what I’m calling it) and getting those antennae ready for flight!
