The Pollinator Port Project is slated to create bee habitats in select NYC DOT public plazas and Open Streets. You’ll be seeing them in Fordham Plaza, Parkside Plaza, Cooper Sq Plaza, Quisqueya Plaza (Dyckman Plaza), Water Street, Staten Island, Gates Ave and 34th Ave! Here’s more from NYC DOT:

As part of the project, ‘bee hotels’ and ‘bee bunkers’ will be installed, and vegetation will be planted to provide nourishment for bees and other pollinators. According to the United Nations’ Environment Programme, bees are essential for the planet and are a crucial part of the biodiversity needed to sustain life. Bees have fewer habitats in urban areas and often have long distances between green spaces in cities. The installations announced today will provide connections between other green spaces across the city and will attract tickle bees, a small, native bee species that rarely sting.

Bee hotels look similar to birdhouses filled with natural materials such as reeds and bamboo that serve as ‘rooms’ for solitary bees to nest their larvae and occasionally rest. Female bees deposit their eggs throughout the summer and provision them with food so the developing baby bees can safely grow. The bee hotels will be posted in planted areas of public plazas and Open Streets to accommodate movement in the planted corridor of our streetscape to facilitate their commute between the five boroughs.

Bee bunkers provide protected soil into which female bees build their nests and lay their eggs. Over the winter, the developing larvae are kept safe and cozy until they are ready to emerge in the spring. Burrowing bees tend to stay local to their habitat and typically forage within three to four blocks of where they live. Burrowing bees are docile and rarely sting. The bunkers will be placed inside existing planters to minimize interactions with people.

I can’t wait to catch a glimpse of one of these in the wild! Read more