See the Bee Block

We're lucky, living near a campus, to have some local entomologists who have taken special interest in the Friends of West Davis Pond bee and butterfly garden.  Many of my flower photos come from this well-tended garden.  This spring I noticed these blocks along fences and trees, and today I see they've painted the rooves.  It's cute, I think, and reminds me of "See Rock City". 

The bee blocks are to attract native bees.  They don't produce honey, and as a result, rarely bother or sting people.  Signs near the garden say that mason bees and leafcutter bees raise offspring in the pre-drilled tunnels in the nesting boxes.  The females partition the tunnel into cells and lay one egg per cell.  The plugged holes are currently occupied, so it looks like this Bee Block is having some success.  *Information curtesy of Williams Lab, UC Davis.*