A Beautiful Day for Bees

Saturday April 25, 2026, was a beautiful day for the first program at Big Rock Park sponsored by the Pella Community Foundation. It was also a beautiful day for bees.

Lead by biologist Paulina Mena of Central College, a sizeable crowd heard about Iowa’s native bees and went on a walk along the edge of the park.

10 am- 2pm is the ideal time to spot bees. The group met at 11 and the bees were active.

Iowa’s native bees are solitary, arising from their underground burrows in the spring. Briefly blooming flowers, spring ephemerals, pop out to greet them, providing calorie dense nectar for the bees along with nutrient rich pollen for their babies. Only females collect pollen, which they form into a pellet by mixing it with nectar. This is stored in their underground nest and provides food for their babies.  

Bumble bees and carpenter bees are both native bees. The carpenter bee has a shiny abdomen and don’t sting. The males have yellow masks on their faces.

Bumble bees are native and social. They have hairy abdomens.

These bees don’t sting as honeybees do. Did you know that only female bees can sting? The stinger is an elongated ovipositor!

Below is a sweat bee on a Spring Beauty held by a child who had a knack for finding these important pollinators on flowers.

Shown below, Dr. Mena discusses the relationship between spring flowers and bees.

The group was given nets to capture insects to examine and sample bottles to temporarily store their captives.

We found bees big and small and even some butterflies!

Thnnk you to everyone who came to enjoy the park! And thank you to the Pella Community Foundation for a grant to allow Friends of Big Rock Park to provide these programs.