A number of things set mason bees apart from other bees: 1  Solitary: They are solitary. 2  Live Together: Mason bees are attracted to each other.  Safe: As with other solitary bees, mason bees are gentle and shy.
http://farminfo.org/bees/mason-bees-m.htm
1 Live Together: Mason bees are attracted to each other. They like to build their nests in aggregations.  Safe: As with other solitary bees, mason bees are gentle and shy. They have a stinger (actually it is an egg guide), but they use it only when they are in serious danger, as when they are purposely caught in the hand. They do not attack to defend their nest or arouse each other in alarm.
http://farminfo.org/bees/mason-bees-m.htm
Mason bees are very effective pollinators. Just two or three females can pollinate a mature apple tree! Mason bees will also work in cool or rainy weather when honeybees are more likely to take the day off. Mason bees actually prefer to make their nests close together.
http://www.gardeners.com/how-to/about-mason-bees/8198.html
Social bees are very much the exception when it comes to Texas bee diversity. Most native bees in the state are solitary with individual females establishing and provisioning nest sites all on their own. Unlike honeybees and bumblebees, solitary bees do not defend their nest sites. Solitary bees tend to be small and less frequently observed than their larger, social cousins.
http://npsot.org/wp/story/2012/2422/
Although less well-known, solitary bees such as leaf-cutter bees (Megachile sp), mason bees (Osmia sp), mining bees (Andrena sp), squash bees (Peponapis sp), and sunflower bees (Diadasia sp) are responsible for a significant amount of pollination in agricultural and ecological systems.
http://npsot.org/wp/story/2012/2422/
Orchard mason bees are native North American bees. They live all across the United States and Southern Canada, but are particularly common in the Pacific Northwest, especially in the Puget Sound area and western Cascade Mountains. They are also called blue orchard bees and scientists know them as Osmia lignaria.
http://farminfo.org/bees/mason-bees-m.htm
In the wild, mason bees lay their eggs in small natural cavities such as woodpecker holes, insect holes and hollow stems, but they seem to be just as happy to lay their eggs in artificial nesting cavities such as wooden blocks with holes drilled in them, cardboard tubes and paper straws.
http://www.gardeners.com/how-to/about-mason-bees/8198.html
Native bees in Texas. Although non-native honeybees tend to garner the most public attention, there are actually several hundred bee species that are native to Texas — species that were here long before the honeybee and that are essential to the state’s diverse native plant communities.
http://npsot.org/wp/story/2012/2422/
There are about 140 species of mason bees in North America. All are solitary bees. The males do not have a stinger, and the females will only sting if trapped or squeezed. This makes them an ideal neighbor for the home garden, since they pose little to no threat of stinging.
http://www.gardeners.com/how-to/about-mason-bees/8198.html
There's no place I'd rather be than in the garden. A mason bee entering one of the bamboo tubes in a Mason Bee House. The cells that are filled with eggs are capped with a layer of mud. Boost your garden's productivity by providing a Mason Bee House for peaceful, non-stinging bees.
http://www.gardeners.com/how-to/about-mason-bees/8198.html
where do mason bees live
Mason bees lives in North America. Mason bees live in North America.