I started having Mason Bee parties at my house. I invited some homeschooled kids and friends to see the bees in action. I also presented a slide show in which I had documented and photographed the bees in various stages of their life cycle.
2003/2004
In April I noticed “black flies” buzzing on the windows in the house. I took a closer look and discovered that they didn’t quite look like flies. They were more bee-like - these must be Mason Bees! I relocated them to the outdoors and thus they were on their way to set up residence nearby. In the meantime, I started drilling holes in wood blocks (4” x 4”) and setting them up on our balcony so that I could watch the bees in action. And they came back and starting setting up housekeeping.
2002
In May I attended the Camas Plant Show and bought a wooden mason bee house from Dennis Dougherty who was one of the vendors. I took it home and laid it on a table on our balcony. I figured it was too late for Mason Bees and I had no idea of how to entice them to use the house anyway. Then a few weeks later (lst part of June), I noticed that some of the holes had mud plugs. Now my study was about to begin.
2001
