Bayside Native of the day: The Blue banded bee
Have you heard the buzz?
Today's Bayside Native is the Blue banded bee 🐝🐝
Common Name: Blue banded bee
Latin Name: Amegilla cingulata
Blue banded bees are spectacularly colourful fast flying bees with bright blue stripes and are native to Australia. They live solitary lives, but usually within close range to other Blue banded bees. Female Blue banded bees build their own nest in soft banks of mud or sandstone in sheltered positions while male bees will congregate in small groups of other male Blue banded bees at night.
Blue banded bees are one of a few expert native ‘buzz pollinators’ and play an important role in pollinating flowering plants they rely on ‘buzz pollination’. ‘Buzz pollination’ is where the bees vibrate within the flower literally shaking the pollen out, and some indigenous wildflowers can only continue to survive by being pollinated in this way. The common introduced species of Honey Bee is not a buzz pollinator.
By leaving some wild sections of your garden, you can encourage these busy little buzzers into your gardens where they can breed and feed. Female Blue-banded bees can be attracted to your garden by making a mud brick with a variety of holes 10-15 mm wide and 25- 50 mm deep before the mud brick dries and place the finished brick in a sheltered position surrounded by indigenous flowering plants
Learn more about planting a wildlife friendly garden in our ‘Live Bayside, Plant Bayside’ booklet.
Read 'Live Bayside, Plant Bayside' now
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Photo by: John Eichler
