The field guide to the calendar
Bees of Portland, Oregon 2027
You are in the right place. Every bee on your wall is below — who she is, where she nests, and what she is doing in that photograph.
Twelve bees, every one of them photographed in Portland, Oregon. This is the long version of what is printed beside each month of the calendar — who she is, how to recognize her, and what she is doing in that picture.
Almost none of these live in hives. Oregon has hundreds of native bee species and most are solitary: one female digging her own nest, gathering her own pollen, sealing her own cells. The honeybee is the famous exception, and she is the only one here who is not from here.
Tap any bee to read about her — where she nests, how she carries pollen, and why she belongs to that month. Each photograph is also available as a high-resolution download, and Patron members download them free.
Tap a bee to read about her and to see the photograph larger.
If you can identify any of these bees more precisely than I have, I would genuinely like to hear it. Several are listed only to genus, because that is as far as a photograph honestly gets you.