1. Corni enters the world
My mom was just as industrious as I am. For me and my siblings, she chose a beautiful, round nesting tube in spring and tirelessly collected pollen and nectar. From this, she formed a delicious pollen bread in each brood cell and finally laid me on top as a small, milky egg.
2. Corni hatches from the egg
I don't even remember what it was like as an egg. It only took three or four days until I hatched and, as a larva, devoured the mountain of food with a huge appetite.
Here you can see Corni's sisters, munching their way through the yellow pollen bread as larvae in spring. The small milky dot to the right of the center of the image is the larva. Taken through the drawer of the BeeHome Observer.
3. Corni devours the pollen bread
Mmm, delicious. When you have nothing else to do but eat all day, there's nothing better than pollen bread. For days I feast and grow bigger and fatter with every bite. So fast that I have to shed my skin three times in the first week. It also only takes three or four weeks until all the pollen bread is gone and I, as a fat larva, bump into the mud walls of my small nursery at both ends. Then I know: It's time for a change.
4. Corni builds a cocoon
For my upcoming transformation, I want a strong protective casing and start spinning a brown cocoon around myself from a special bodily fluid. This is quite strenuous because I, a thick little worm, have to constantly wriggle back and forth in the small cell. Luckily, as a larva, I've stocked up enough energy so that I now only need to eat very little.
5. Corni pupates
Now that my cocoon is finished, I need a break. For two weeks, I'll just lie around in my cozy sleeping bag. Then I'll be ready for the biggest change of my life. I'm transforming in several stages from a plump larva into a pretty mason bee. I can't say exactly what happened to me during that time, but it always felt like a pleasant tingle, as if mineral water was tickling my whole body from the inside. It must be August now.
Mason bees overwinter as fully developed insects in their cocoons. This is what it looks like if you carefully cut open the cocoon.
6. Corni sleeps in
Suddenly, the tingling stops and I feel like a real mason bee in my cocoon. And what's that? For the first time, I can not only feel but also see, even if it's just deep black. Luckily, I'm so tired that my big, black eyes "close" immediately and I sink into a long, refreshing sleep.
7. Corni gnaws her way to freedom
Ugh, what's waking me up? There's rustling, crumbling, and rumbling all over the tube. It's too much commotion for me so soon after waking up. I still feel so groggy, as if I've slept through the entire winter. But then I get curious. What's going on out there? I gnaw my way through the cocoon in a few minutes, then through a clay wall, and I see another bee next to me. It must be a sister who hatched before me in the neighboring brood cell. Shortly after, she pushes her rust-red fur towards the exit, waits a moment, and - she's gone.
8. Corni Takes Flight
Now, for the first time, I see the sunlight as a small, bright dot at the end of the nest tube. I quickly scurry towards the exit, poke my head into the warm sun, and – suddenly feel a pressure in my tummy. Of course, after the long winter hibernation, everything needs to come out of my gut. There, and now I want to fly off and refuel at the first blossom.
9. Corni Finds a Man – Or Rather: The Man Finds Corni
Landed safely. Not bad at all for my first flight attempt. Hmmm, and how delicious the nectar in the blossoms tastes. Oops, who's grabbing me? Hey, what's going on, I'm just eating, dear sir. Oh well, that'll have to wait. The male on my back looks quite nice with his funny, light whiskers.
Mating on a blossom, the female carries the smaller male piggyback. Afterwards, she begins building the nest.
10. Corni Builds a Nest
Now I am a really big mason bee, just like my mom used to be. It's a shame she can't see how diligently I'm collecting pollen for my own children now...