Bee Wayfinders for Mason Bees

Mason bees use visual cues to help orientate themselves to their nests. After emerging from their cocoons, females take an orientation flight. They search for a suitable nesting site during this flight and learn the surrounding area to help them relocate their nests. After selecting a nesting hole, the female bee will fly in a zigzag pattern in front of the nest entrance, memorizing its exact location. Bee houses with large numbers of nesting holes that all look the same make it difficult for the females to relocate their nests—sometimes, this results in females nesting elsewhere. To avoid confusing the bees, we offer reeds that naturally have slight size variations and char the front of our wood trays to give each hole a slightly unique look. To make it even easier for the females to relocate their nests after foraging, we've created Bee Wayfinders! These "signposts" add additional visual hints to help females locate their nesting cavities quickly. Bees base their color combinations o