Redmond, Washington · Mason & Leafcutter Bees
Live 24/7, March – August · Pacific Time
This camera watches the entrance to a CrownBees Tower Bee House mounted on the east-facing wall of our home in Redmond, Washington. The house is used in two shifts each year: mason bees (Osmia) in spring, and leafcutter bees (Megachile) in summer. Both species are solitary, native pollinators — no hive, no honey, no swarming.
Females spend their days foraging and sealing up tubes one by one. If you watch long enough you will see them arrive carrying pollen on their belly fur (mason bees) or arriving with a neat circular leaf cutting (leafcutters). The house holds 8 mm natural reed tubes at about five feet of height; the camera is a Reolink E1 Outdoor Pro streaming 4K H.265 at 20 fps from just inches above the entrance.
Mason bees are among the most efficient pollinators in North America — a single female is equivalent to dozens of honey bees. They carry dry pollen on their fuzzy bellies and seal each tube with mud. Watch for their quick, darting flights and the mud-plastering behaviour at the tube entrance.
Leafcutter bees cut neat circles or ovals from soft leaves — roses are a favourite — and use them to line and cap each brood cell. Completely harmless and fascinating to watch: the female arrives carrying a leaf piece held under her body, ducks into the tube, and backs out empty in seconds.
| Period | Species | Bee-active hours | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan – Feb | Off season | — | Bees overwintering in tubes |
| March | Mason | 6:15 am – 6:15 pm PT | First flights as temps reach 55°F |
| April | Mason | 6:30 am – 7:45 pm PT | Peak mason bee season |
| May | Mason | 5:30 am – 8:45 pm PT | Most active month |
| June | Mason | 5:15 am – 9:00 pm PT | Activity tapers mid-month |
| Mid-June – Early July | Changeover | — | House cleaned, prepped for leafcutters |
| July | Leafcutter | 7:00 am – 9:00 pm PT | Need warm temps to fly |
| August | Leafcutter | 6:15 am – 8:15 pm PT | Peak leafcutter season |
| Sep – Feb | Off season | — | Stream offline until next spring |
The camera streams 24 hours a day during the active months listed above — night frames are dark, daytime shows the foragers. Times in the table describe when the bees themselves are on the wing in Redmond, not when the stream is running. Stream is taken offline in September and brought back in March.
Crown Bees (crownbees.com) is a Woodinville-based company dedicated to native bee stewardship. Their guides on mason and leafcutter bee management are excellent, and most of what's set up here came from their advice.
The Xerces Society (xerces.org) advocates for invertebrate conservation and publishes free pollinator guides — a deeper resource for solitary bees beyond the two species hosted here.