The Mick Jaggers of Pollen

Think all bees are the same? Think again! This episode, we dive in to the world of native bees with bee expert Nick Dorian - and find out which bees are the rock-star pollinators, which ones sting, which bees produce the worst honey he’s ever tasted, and why native bees might be the future of how we farm.

Long-horned bee (Melissodes sp.)

There are more than 4,000 different species of native bees in North America, and can vary a lot in size, color and life cycle. Aptly named for their long antennae, long-horned bees are known for pollinating sunflowers and other native plants.

Sweat bee (Agapostemon sp.)

There’s a reason why this tiny, metallic green bee is called a “Sweat Bee.” On hot summer days, these bees are known to land on people to drink sweat, fulfilling their need for sodium and calcium.

Sweat bee (Agapostemon sp.)

There’s a reason why this tiny, metallic green bee is called a “Sweat Bee.” On hot summer days, these bees are known to land on people to drink sweat, fulfilling their need for sodium and calcium.

Sweat bees (Halictidae)
Common Eastern Bumble bee (Bombus impatiens)

Bumblebees are one of the social native bees, living among small colonies with a single queen.

Common Eastern Bumble bee (Bombus impatiens)

Bumble bees perform “buzz pollination”– gripping the flower and vibrating their flight muscles to dislodge pollen – making them more effective pollinators than honeybees.

Fast Flyers

Bumble bees beat their wings at around 200 times per second, and can fly up to 30+ miles per hour.

We need them

Today, around a third of the food we eat is dependent upon bee pollination, such as almonds and tomatoes. “Native bees provide free pollination services...if we just give them enough habitat,” says bee Expert Nick Dorian.

Some bees are Specialists

Some native bees, such as the Blueberry Cellophane Bee (Colletes validus), are specialists, and will only pollinate a certain kind of flower. “Even if there are maples and willows blooming, it doesn’t care,”says bee expert Nick Dorian. “It only wants to get nectar and pollen from blueberries.”

female Long-horned bee (Melissodes sp.).
The world through a bee's eyes

Bees have compound eyes with more than 5,000 individual lenses on them, which helps them to decipher distance and depth. Although they can’t see the color red, bees can detect ultraviolet light and patterns on flowers that are invisible to the human eye.

Leaf-cutter bee (Megachile sp.)
Busy as a...

A single bee can visit up to 2,000 flowers a day.

Size variation

Even among carpenter bees, size does vary. On left, (Ceratina sp) and Xylocopa virginica.