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From my office window this morning, I noticed my neighbor’s pear tree blossoms just beginning to open. The sun is out, the sky is clear, and the air is cold.

Mason Bee Box Mounted on South Facing Wide Plane of Home

In step with this mixed weather bag, blossoms are tender-footing their way into spring. Awakening with the warmth of spring sunshine and the alluring aroma of spring flowers, are my sleepyhead Mason bees. They aren’t nearly as exciting to watch – yet – as the honey bees. Still, it’s time to keep an eye on them. They may wake up a little later, but their spring alarm clock crescendo is ringing – louder each day.

Last weekend Bob helped mount the Mason bee house on the south side of our house. Dave from Hunter’s Mason Bees had walked the garden spaces with me when he dropped off the bees and the bee box last week. He agreed they would like the wide, blank plane of our home’s south side. Not only do they like the warmth, but apparently the male bees, which emerge first, like to sun themselves on a wide, blank area near the bee house. This way they can pick up the ladies who exit the bee tubes a little after the males. As you can see in this photo, we had a huge, wide space to provide exactly this for them.

Over the last week, we’ve watched the box filled with tubes for activity. If you look closely, you’ll notice there are some tubes that look to be filled and others that are empty. The filled tubes contain the bees ready to awaken for the season. The empty tubes will become the homes where this year’s females lay eggs for next year’s progeny. Dave told me the different colors of the tubes are helping him study whether the bees have a color preference.

Filled and Empty Mason Bee Tubes Held Securely in the Bee Box with Slate Weights

Apparently, they may prefer to build their homes in a house painted yellow over a house painted red. Perhaps we’ll learn more as these bees begin their new nest building over the coming weeks.

It has appeared in the last couple of days that some of the seals on the filled tubes are beginning to open. Yet, we aren’t sure we’ve seen any of the tiny male bees around the hive. Here’s the thing, they’re really small. And, they almost look like a black fly from far away. And guess what? Nasty black flies like to sun themselves on the south side of our house too. So, it may be a little while longer ’til I’m able to capture a photo of these mason bees in action. Once they all hear the spring alarm clock ringing (or smell it or feel it) and the box is all a-buzz, I’ll share more about their activity. My guess? With low 60F weather reported over the next couple of days, the tubes already breaking up a bit, and the south side of our house cooking in the lengthening daylight of spring and the neighboring fruit trees wafting pear-ish perfume, they’ll be getting to work in no time!