Paperbark native bees

01/09/2026

09/01/2026

Love getting behind Invertebrates Australia and the Invasive Species Council's Bug Hunt project and uploading my photos of bees and all sorts of bugs into iNaturalist.org! It creates such a fantastic record of your own sightings, and helps contribute valuable info to scientists and conservation managers.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-09/qld-bug-hunt-insects-photos-research-citizen-scientists/106171252

https://bughunt.org.au/

04/01/2026

Check out those eyes! 😍 I've only once spotted a sweet little Australian Small Carpenter Bee (Ceratina australensis), at the Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan (Dharawal Country, NSW).

Females make nests in the stems of pithy plants. I'm enjoying reading 'Native Bees of Australia - a Comprehensive guide' by Bernhard Jacobi (2025) at the moment, and he notes that sometimes two females will share a nest. One lays the eggs and gathers food provisions, while the other takes the role of nest guard.

Loving uploading my bee and bug sightings to iNaturalist in support of Bug Hunt, a national citizen science project led by the Invasive Species Council and Invertebrates Australia, with support from the Australian Geographic Awards for Nature program.