As winter turns to spring in north Florida, little mounds of soil erupt from our lawns. They're not all ants. Many insects spend the winter in the ground, and they are waking up. Take a look at your mounds: sometimes, there are several close together, with large openings. These might be mining bees. Even though their mounds are close together, they are solitary nesting bees, and solitary nesting bees and wasps are not aggressive. Some people call ming bees "tickle bees," and they even pick them up!
Mining bees belong to the genus Andrena, and many individual species specialize in the flowers of specific plants. They only fly a short time, at the end of winter, when native trees produce copious amounts of flowers. The flowers we see in this video belong to native cherry trees: the genus Prunus.
Florida has over 320 species of native bees. To learn more about the many bees you might see throughout the year, visit the WFSU Ecology Blog:
Mining Bees: Those Aren't All Ant Mounds On Your Lawn For Country: United States. City: Columbia, Elk Grove, Minneapolis, Round Rock, Wichita Falls
