08/15/2026
Today is ! While honey bees are important to food chain management and humanity as a whole, it is also important to acknowledge native bees and wasps, which we elect to do today. A particularly interesting genus of native bees are the panurginates - stingless, largely new-world solitary bees that typically specialize in the pollen collection (and this thus) of a narrow range of native plants. Pictured here is an Eastern miner bee, a pollinator of beans, peas, peaflowers, and other legumes. Bees in this clade make their nests in small holes in the ground, typically with only a single female and her eggs per nest. Due to how rigid their pollen collection requirements are, they are extremely vulnerabler to habitat loss, and their grounded nests make them vulnerable to pesticides, as well. If you want to help protect native bees like these, consider joining our efforts at keepharalsonbeautiful.org.
