Spring Bees - Colletes inaequalis

"The bee buzz'd up in the heat...
The flower said "Take it my dear,
For now is the spring of the year..." ~ Tennyson

Wandering around Boston never fails to brighten my day, I always stumble upon or rediscover something great about my city. Nothing beats walking down Beacon Street and Comm Ave in the Back Bay during the first warm spring days as the city emerges from hibernation, when the Magnolias erupt, blanketing the street with a canopy of flowers. When the Magnolias, dogwoods, cherry and apple trees start to bloom, my thoughts shift to the emergence of spring bees. 

A high diversity of native bee species rely on the spring flowering plants and trees, especially willow, cherry, apple, and holly trees. Many of these species are specialists on certain trees, usually only visiting flowers from a single genus or family of trees.   

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24 April 2013: Magnolias in bloom on Beacon Street. Corner of Mass Ave and Beacon, Boston, Ma.

For me, spring starts when one of the earliest flying bee emerges, the plasterer bee Colletes inaequalis (Colletidae). Colletes inaequalis are solitary, like all species in the genus Colletes, and nest in the ground, usually in aggregations. The pictures below of the Colletes female emerging from her nest was from an area where dozens of Colletes nests were in a meter squared and the entire nesting area was about the size of a basketball court.  Enjoy the pictures of this great sign of spring. 

More pictures and info about Colletes inaequalis
The magnolia trees were first planted by Laura Dwight in 1963. 
The Bee and The Flower by Alfred Tennyson