Secret Pollinators

Everybody knows grasses are wind-pollinated. Right? RIGHT?? Turns out the textbooks have been quietly leaving something out. Bees — honeybees, bumblebees, sweat bees, mining bees — are visiting grass flowers and combing pale yellow pollen straight off the anthers. And they're doing it without the usual floral road signs: no nectar, no big colorful petals, no UV bullseyes. So how on earth are they finding it? In this episode we dig into the surprising science of grass pollen as bee food, the new (and shockingly recent) research showing five genera of bees collecting pollen from a single turfgrass species, what cues bees use to spot grass anthers in a sea of green, and why the lawn under your feet might be quietly feeding the bees you're trying so hard to save with your wildflowers. Spoiler: the cemetery bees from Episode 37 were in on this all along.

www.secretpollinators.com

Key Sources & DOIs

Bees on turfgrasses (the foundational work)

• • Joseph, S.V., Harris-Shultz, K., Jespersen, D. (2020). Surveys of pollinators on centipedegrass (Eremochloa ophiuroides) and bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum). Insects / Journal of Entomological Science. (UGA / USDA-ARS Tifton)
  • Joseph, S.V., Harris-Shultz, K. (2022). Bees forage on bahiagrass spikelets. Florida Entomologist 105(1). DOI: 10.1653/024.105.0115
  • USDA-ARS press: "Grass Flowers are Something to Buzz About." ars.usda.gov/news-events

The cemetery / Andrena regularis context (callback to E37)

• • Cornell research on the Andrena regularis aggregation at East Lawn Cemetery, Ithaca NY (2026 paper) — documenting grass pollen as a major nest provision.
  • Earlier Cornell work on the Melissodes bimaculatus suburban lawn aggregation (2024).
  • Urban-Mead, K.R. et al. (2022). Pollen consumption in male and female Andrena. Apidologie. (Documents grass pollen in Andrena diets.)

Pollen nutrition & bee diet

• • Vaudo, A.D., Dyer, L.A., Leonard, A.S. (2024). Pollen nutrition structures bee and plant community interactions. (Great Basin / Eastern Sierra study, 109 plants × 75 bee subgenera.)
  • Moore, E. et al. (2025). Engineered yeast provides rare but essential pollen sterols for honeybees. Nature 646: 365–371. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09431-y
  • Najarpoor, A. et al. (2026). Dietary pollen and carbohydrate sources influence longevity, physiology, and gut microbiota in honey bees. Scientific Reports. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-48586-0

How bees perceive flowers (sensory science background)

• • Hempel de Ibarra, N. et al. — honeybee vision and floral pattern detection (UV/blue/green photoreceptors, low-resolution but pattern-sensitive).
  • Multimodal floral signals — bumblebee work on combined scent + visual cues (Leonard lab and others).
  • Muth, F. et al. — bumblebees use pollen taste/chemistry to decide whether to keep collecting (Proc. R. Soc. B).

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It's spring. Things are emerging. Something just buzzed past your ear, and your shoulders went up to your eyeballs. But was it a bee? A wasp? A fly? A genuinely surprising number of the "bees" in your garden are actually flies wearing a very convincing costume. In this episode, Kelly walks you through a five-second checklist — wings, antennae, eyes, waist, hair — that'll make you the most confident pollinator ID-er on your block. Plus, the hoverflies fooling everyone, the bee flies zooming over your dirt banks, and why bees are basically wasps that went vegetarian 125 million years ago.

How to tell if your pollinator is a bee, wasp or fly | The Great Sunflower Project

Bee Guides | Pollinator.org

www.secretpollinators.com

KEY SOURCES

• • Danforth, B.N., Cardinal, S., Praz, C., Almeida, E.A.B., & Michez, D. (2013). The impact of molecular data on our understanding of bee phylogeny and evolution. Annual Review of Entomology, 58, 57–78. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-ento-120811-153633
  • Ollerton, J. (2017). Pollinator diversity: distribution, ecological function, and conservation. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 48, 353–376. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-110316-022919
  • Rader, R., Bartomeus, I., Garibaldi, L.A., et al. (2016). Non-bee insects are important contributors to global crop pollination. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(1), 146–151. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1517092112
  • Penney, H.D., Hassall, C., Skevington, J.H., Abbott, K.R., & Sherratt, T.N. (2012). A comparative analysis of the evolution of imperfect mimicry. Nature, 483, 461–464. DOI: 10.1038/nature10961
  • The Great Sunflower Project — "How to tell if your pollinator is a bee, wasp or fly": greatsunflower.org

#SecretPollinators #PollinatorPodcast #NativeBees #Pollinators #BeeID #Hoverflies #BeeFly #Bombyliidae #Syrphidae #NativePollinators #BeeOrNot #PollinatorEducation #BackyardScience #CitizenScience #PollinatorGarden #SavetheBees #MontanaPollinators #SpringPollinators #WildBees #NatureNerd #EntomologyPodcast #SciencePodcast #NaturePodcast #MimicryInNature #PlantTheSpecies #LetItBeeWild #Flies #Wasp #Bumblebee #NativeBees

In 2021, researchers noticed something unusual about the northeast corner of a cemetery in Ithaca, New York. The ground was full of tiny holes. A Cornell University team set up emergence traps and counted what came out. The answer: 5.6 million solitary bees, emerging from beneath the headstones every spring, quietly pollinating a university apple orchard 600 meters away. Then the same team found 651,440 more bees in a suburban lawn — collecting grass pollen nobody knew they wanted. These populations are hiding everywhere in plain sight, in the patches of ground we've never thought to study. And the safest place a wild bee can nest might just be the one piece of land nobody ever builds on.

www.secretpollinators.com

KEY SOURCES

• • Hoge ST, Kueneman JG, Fordyce R, Dobler C, Odanaka K, Danforth BN (2026) Emergence dynamics and host-parasite associations in a large aggregation of Andrena regularis (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Andrenidae). Apidologie 57:29. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13592-026-01256-6
  • Giulian J, Danforth BN, Kueneman JG (2024) A large aggregation of Melissodes bimaculatus (Hymenoptera: Apidae) offers perspectives on gregarious nesting and pollination services. Northeastern Naturalist 31(3):402–417. https://doi.org/10.1656/045.031.0314
  • Population estimate: 5.56 million A. regularis (range 3.1–8.0 million) from 6,523 m² nesting area at East Lawn Cemetery, Ithaca NY
  • Collection records of A. regularis at ELC date to 1935 (GBIF)
  • Cornell apple orchard 600m from ELC; A. regularis most abundant pollinator 2008–2016
  • Melissodes bimaculatus aggregation: 651,440 bees in suburban upstate New York lawn
  • Selfish-herd hypothesis: dense nesting aggregations dilute individual parasite risk (Giulian et al. 2024)
  • Grass pollen (Poaceae) preference: previously undocumented diet preference for M. bimaculatus (Giulian et al. 2024)
  • Cemetery biodiversity: Kowarik et al. (2016) — 604 species including 48 of conservation concern in Berlin cemetery
  • "Sentinels of biodiversity where the dead protect the living": Barrett & Barrett (2001); Dybas (2025)
  • Scientific American coverage: Mogensen, Jackie Flynn. "Scientists just discovered 5.6 million bees under a New York cemetery." April 14, 2026

#SecretPollinators #5MillionBees #CemeteryBees #AndreaBees #AndenaRegularis #NativeBees #GroundNestingBees #SolitaryBees #BeeDiscovery #HiddenBees #EastLawnCemetery #CornellUniversity #PollinatorScience #WildBees #BeeConservation #ApplePollination #MelissodesBimaculatus #TwoSpottedLonghornBee #GrassPollen #BeeResearch #NativeBeeResearch #PollinatorConservation #SaveTheBees #BeeNerd #BeeFacts #InsectScience #SciencePodcast #NaturePodcast #NatureLovers #EntomologyNerd #Entomology #DidYouKnow #MindBlown #ScienceIsAmazing #HiddenNature #UnexpectedNature #BeesOfInstagram #PollinatorHabitat #SacredGround #TheDeadAreKeepingBees #NewEpisode #Ghosts #Dead #Cemetery #headstones #wildbees

The Netherlands ships one billion flower bulbs to the United States every single year — and most of them grow into flowers that feed no bees at all. Modern hybrid tulips are sterile and produce no nectar. Daffodils contain toxic alkaloids that bees avoid. The "pollinator-friendly bulb mix" at your garden center is mostly empty flowers dressed up for human eyes. Meanwhile, bumblebee queens emerging from winter starvation are flying over a $6 billion tulip industry that offers them nothing. Here's the real spring bulb story — and the species varieties that actually feed the bees you're trying to help.

Visit my website for the Spring Bulb Guide: The Spring Bulb Guide: What to Plant for Pollinators (and What to Skip) | Native Bee Podcast: Identification, Conservation & Habitat

www.secretpollinators.com

KEY SOURCES

• • iBulb / Royal Anthos: Netherlands produces 8.5-9 billion bulbs annually on 22,000-28,000 hectares
  • AIPH FloraCulture (2024): Netherlands ships 1 billion bulbs annually to USA via Pre-Clearance Programme
  • Market Data Forecast (2025): Global tulip market valued at $6.29 billion in 2024
  • Netherlands accounts for 70% of world flower bulb production and 90% of trade
  • Dutch farmers produce 6.5 billion tulip bulbs annually; 13,000ha dedicated to tulips
  • Wikipedia / Tulip: Tulips do not produce nectar; rely on pollen-only reward; most commercial tulips are sterile hybrids reproducing via bulb division
  • Honey Bee Suite (Rusty Burlew): Daffodils have lost pollinator-attracting features through breeding selection for human aesthetics; bees ignore most modern hybrids
  • Dyck Arboretum: Hybridized bulbs may be sterile or low-pollen; species varieties retain ecological value
  • Urban Pollinators blog: Wild Narcissus pseudonarcissus pollinated by bumble bees; modern hybrid daffodils have lost pollen-attracting features
  • PMC (NIH): Narcissus alkaloids include lycorine and narciclasine in all parts of the plant; ~100 alkaloids identified in Narcissus genus
  • Colorado State University Guide to Poisonous Plants: Narcissus toxicity from Amaryllidaceae alkaloids
  • ADR Bulbs: Bulb pollinator value list; species crocus, snowdrops, winter aconite, grape hyacinth as bee-friendly
  • Andrena erigeniae: Specialist bee dependent on Claytonia virginica (spring beauty)
  • Xerces Society: Native spring ephemerals and specialist bee co-evolution

#SecretPollinators #SpringBulbs #SpringBulbConspiracy #SpeciesCrocus #PollinatorGarden #BumbleBees #SaveTheBees #NativePlants #SpringEphemerals #BeeFriendlyGardening #BFGAmbassador #Tulips #Daffodils #GardenTruth #PollinatorConservation #WildflowerGarden #SciencePodcast #NaturePodcast #SciComm #FoodForBees #NewEpisode #nativebees #wildbees #pollen #readlabels #species #pollen

Bees have five eyes, can see colors that don't exist in the human visual spectrum, and navigate by reading polarized light patterns in the sky like a living GPS. With the National Geographic Secrets of the Bees special fresh in everyone's minds, this is the episode that goes deeper — into the visual system that makes all that extraordinary bee behavior possible. And yes, it changes how you'll think about your garden.

Watch Secrets of the Bees TV Show - Streaming Online | Nat Geo TV

www.secretpollinators.com

Science reference:

• • Kolyfetis, Belušič & Foster (2025). Electrophysiological recordings reveal photoreceptor coupling in the dorsal rim areas of honeybee and bumblebee eyes. Biology Letters, 21(9).
  • Biology Letters (2024). Polarized light detection in bumblebees varies with light intensity and is mediated by both the ocelli and compound eyes.

#SecretPollinators #BeeVision #CompoundEyes #NativePollinators #PollinatorGarden #UVVision #BeeScience #SecretsOfTheBees #NatGeo #BumblebeeLove #NativePlants #PollinatorSteward #NationalGeographic #SecretsofBees #NativeBees #WildBees #JamesCameron #bees

Exciting news — Kelly's article on the American Bumble Bee (Bombus pensylvanicus) was just published today in the Pollinator Partnership Bee Friendly Gardening Newsletter. In this short episode, she shares what's in the piece, why this bee matters, and where to read it. Head to pollinator.org or find the link in the show notes. Please consider becoming a member of the Pollinator Partnership - Bee Friendly Gardening.

My-Favorite-Native-Bumblebee.pdf

Bee Friendly Gardening | Pollinator.org

www.secretpollinators.com

#SecretPollinators #AmericanBumbleBee #BombusPensylvanicus #PollinatorPartnership #BeeFriendlyGardening #NativeBees #BumbleBee #SaveTheBees #PollinatorConservation #NativePollinator #BeeLovers #Pollinators #GardenForWildlife #PlantNatives #KellyParks #CertifiedPollinatorSteward #NewArticle #Published

One bumblebee. One wooden ball. One hundred and seventeen times - with no reward, no training, and no reason anyone could explain. In Part 2 of our bumblebee play series, we follow PhD student Samadi Galpayage, who couldn't stop thinking about the bees she'd watched rolling balls for no apparent reason. What she discovered - published in the journal Animal Behaviour in 2022 — became the first scientific proof that insects play. Not for food. Not for survival. Just for the joy of it. We dig into what that means for how we understand bee emotion, insect sentience, and the surprisingly blurry line between creatures that feel and creatures we've always assumed don't. If this episode doesn't change the way you look at the next Bumblebee you see, nothing will.

Galpayage Dona, H.S., Solvi, C., Kowalewska, A., Mäkelä, K., MaBouDi, H., & Chittka, L. (2022). Do bumble bees play? Animal Behaviour, 194, 239–251

www.secretpollinators.com

REFERENCES

Primary study: Galpayage Dona, H.S., Solvi, C., Kowalewska, A., Mäkelä, K., MaBouDi, H., & Chittka, L. (2022). Do bumble bees play? Animal Behaviour, 194, 239–251.

Supporting context: Chittka, L. (2022). The Mind of a Bee. Princeton University Press. Solvi, C. et al. (2016). Bumblebees show cognitive flexibility. Science.

#Bumblebee #BumblebeePlay #BumblebeeScience #BeeCognition #BeeFacts #NativeBees #BeeResearch #BeeLovers #SaveTheBees #PollinatorScience #PollinatorProtection #Pollinators #InsectSentience #InsectIntelligence #InsectBehavior #AnimalPlay #AnimalEmotion #AnimalCognition #AnimalBehavior #DoInsectsFeel #SamadiGalpayage #LarsChittka #QueenMaryUniversity #QMUL #AnimalBehaviour #SecretPollinators #NaturePodcast #SciencePodcast #NatureLovers #EntomologyNerd #Entomology #TinyBrainBigMind #117Times #PlayingForJoy #MindBlown #DidYouKnow #ScienceIsAmazing #UnexpectedNature

What happens when a scientist hands a bumblebee a wooden ball and a target — and offers a drop of sugar as the prize? She scores a goal. In 2017, researchers at Queen Mary University of London discovered that bumblebees could learn to roll a ball to a target by watching another bee do it first — and then improve on what they saw. With brains smaller than a sesame seed, these tiny athletes showed a level of social learning and cognitive flexibility that stunned the scientific world. But the most surprising discovery? Some bees kept rolling the ball even when no reward was coming. That's where this story gets really interesting. Tune in for Part 1 — and stay for the twist that launched one of the most fascinating bee studies ever published.

Here is the link to the article:

Are these bumble bees playing with toys? | Science | AAAS

www.secretpollinators.com

REFERENCES

Primary study: Loukola, O.J., Perry, C.J., Coscos, L., & Chittka, L. (2017). Bumblebees show cognitive flexibility by improving on an observed complex behavior. Science, 355(6327), 833–836.

Supporting context: Chittka, L. (2022). The Mind of a Bee. Princeton University Press. Galpayage Dona et al. (2022). Do bumble bees play? Animal Behaviour, 194, 239–251.

#Bumblebee #BumblebeeScience #BeeCognition #BeeFacts #NativeBees #BeeResearch #BeeLovers #SaveTheBees #PollinatorScience #PollinatorProtection #Pollinators #InsectIntelligence #InsectBehavior #AnimalCognition #AnimalBehavior #AnimalPlay #SocialLearning #CognitiveFlexibility #LarsChittka #OlliLoukola #QueenMaryUniversity #QMUL #SecretPollinators #NaturePodcast #SciencePodcast #NatureLovers #EntomologyNerd #Entomology #TinyBrainBigMind #MindBlown #DidYouKnow #ScienceIsAmazing #UnexpectedNature #soccer #cognativeflexibility

Bumblebee queens spend up to nine months hibernating underground — and sometimes, that ground floods. A 2021 lab accident accidentally revealed they could survive a week fully submerged. A new study out this week finally explains how: underwater breathing, anaerobic metabolism, and extreme metabolic slowdown — three survival systems running at once. Kelly breaks down the science and what it means for bumblebee conservation as flooding events increase.

Link to Smithsonian article:

Bumblebee Queens Breathe Underwater to Survive Drowning, Revealing How They Can Live Submerged for a Week

Link to the Royal Society B Research Article:

Diapausing bumble bee queens avoid drowning by using underwater respiration, anaerobic metabolism and profound metabolic depression | Proceedings B | The Royal Society

Primary study

• Darveau, C.-A., Rondeau, S., & Rojas, S. L. (2026). Diapausing bumble bee queens avoid drowning by using underwater respiration, anaerobic metabolism and profound metabolic depression. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 293(2066): 20253141. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2025.3141

Original flooding study

• Rondeau, S., & Raine, N. E. (2024). Unveiling the submerged secrets: bumblebee queens' resilience to flooding. Biology Letters, 20(4): 20230609. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2023.0609

Physical gill / plastron mechanism

• Flynn, M. R., & Bush, J. W. M. (2008). Underwater breathing: the mechanics of plastron respiration. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 608, 275–296. DOI: 10.1017/S0022112008002048
• Hebets, E. A., & Chapman, R. F. Physical gills in diving insects and spiders: theory and experiment. Journal of Experimental Biology.
• Thorpe, W. H., & Crisp, D. J. The water-protecting properties of insect hairs. Discussions of the Faraday Society.

Science journalism

• Smithsonian Magazine, "Bumblebee Queens Breathe Underwater to Survive Drowning, Revealing How They Can Live Submerged for a Week" (March 11, 2026)
• Science News, "Submerged bumblebee queens breathe underwater" (March 2026)
• Science (AAAS), "How bumble bees survive days underwater without drowning" (March 10, 2026)

#SecretPollinators #BumblebeeQueens #NativeBees #Bumblebees #BombusImpatiens #PollinatorConservation #BeeScience #Diapause #GroundNestingBees #ClimateChange #Pollinators #BeesOfInstagram #SaveTheBees #Smithsonian #NewResearch #WildlifeScience #PodcastEpisode

🎉 Featured in Ceramics Now Magazine! The article companion to this episode was just published at ceramicsnow.org

The First Ceramicists: When Bees Taught Us About Clay is live now in Ceramics Now Magazine. Read it here: https://www.ceramicsnow.org/articles/the-first-ceramicists-ancient-clay-structures-built-by-bees/

Discover how ground-nesting bees have been master ceramicists for 100 million years—long before humans learned to work with clay. In this episode, Kelly Parks explores recently discovered 20,000-year-old fossilized bee nests found in a Dominican cave, revealing how native bees select materials, manage moisture, and engineer durable clay structures. Learn what Indigenous communities have always known about the bee-clay connection, plus practical tips for supporting ground-nesting pollinators in your garden. Perfect for nature lovers, gardeners, ceramic artists, and anyone curious about biomimicry and sustainable craft practices.

Fossil bee nests in bone (Hispaniola)

• Viñola-López, L. W., Riegler, M., et al. (2025). Trace fossils within mammal remains reveal novel bee nesting behaviour. Royal Society Open Science, 12. Published December 17, 2025. — Cueva de Mono, southern Dominican Republic; nests named Osnidum almontei; first documented case of bees nesting in animal bone; likely halictid.

Oldest known bee nests (Patagonia)

• Genise, J. F., Cantil, L. F., et al. (2020). 100 Ma sweat bee nests: Early and rapid co-diversification of crown bees and flowering plants. PLOS ONE, 15(1): e0227789. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0227789 — Castillo Formation, Argentina, radiometrically dated to 100.14 ± 0.32 Ma; ichnospecies Cellicalichnus krausei.
• Genise, J. F., Sciutto, J. C., Laza, J. H., González, M. G., & Bellosi, E. S. (2002). Fossil bee nests, coleopteran pupal chambers and tuffaceous palaeosols from the Late Cretaceous Laguna Palacios Formation, Central Patagonia (Argentina). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 177, 215–235.

Companion article

• Parks, K. The First Ceramicists: Ancient Clay Structures Built by Bees. Ceramics Now Magazine. ceramicsnow.org

Science journalism

• Field Museum, "These fossils were the perfect home for ancient baby bees" (December 16, 2025)
• Smithsonian Magazine, "Fossils Suggest That Some Ancient Burrowing Bees Made Their Homes in Rodent Skulls" (December 18, 2025)
• Scientific American, "Ancient bees burrowed inside bones, fossils reveal"
• National Geographic, "Oldest evidence of modern bees found in Argentina"

#CeramicsNow #CeramicsNowMagazine #PublishedArtist #CeramicsCommunity #ArtPublication #NativeBees #Pollinators #GroundNestingBees #PollinatorConservation #SaveTheBees #Ceramics #Pottery #ClayArt #Biomimicry #TraditionalEcologicalKnowledge #IndigenousWisdom #SustainableArt #NatureEducation #BeeFacts #Paquime #Ancients #Incas #Aztecs #Secretpollinators