I had made a dish with rocks in years past for the bees and lizards
and butterflys

but due to mosquito larvae
and slimy rocks within 4 days..I stopped.

However it is so hot and dog days are early this year
that I went out and walked through the yard to find
rocks and a large cat dish and set it up on a round empty
pot turned upside down...

Here it is
thanks for your article.
Sheri T/sheridragonfly

I am so envious of the beautiful green gardens seen on the website.. I live in Ga and we've had drought conditions now for a couple of months. Brown spots in the grass and wilting flowers, but rain the past 3 days. I have bird feeders and bird baths and we all work hard to keep them clean because of the Zika mosquitoes.
I hope next year all is well and normal! Love the pictures and all the extra ideas.

Sheridragonfly said:I had made a dish with rocks in years past for the bees and lizards
and butterflys

but due to mosquito larvae
and slimy rocks within 4 days..I stopped.

However it is so hot and dog days are early this year
that I went out and walked through the yard to find
rocks and a large cat dish and set it up on a round empty
pot turned upside down...Here it is
thanks for your article.
Sheri T/sheridragonfly

You're welcome Sheri- Thanks for the pictures and doing a little extra to help our pollinators!

Thank you for bringing up this subject. Apparently there are people in our suburban Springfield, MA area who are keeping bees, but maybe not providing water??? We've been in a heat spell and drought around here, and my concrete birdbath now has so many honeybees congregating around it that the birds have shied away from using it. I certainly don't want the bees to die, but I'm having trouble just trying to change the water in the birdbath. The bees get somewhat agitated whenever I try to dump the water. Yes, the water in the birdbath is too deep for them. I've tried setting out a large plant saucer for them, but they seem to prefer the birdbath, even though I've already had to rescue a number of them that have fallen in. What else can I do? I don't know who in the area is keeping the bees. I was wondering if our town might be willing to send out a Reverse 911 call, just to alert homeowners that they must provide water if they're going to keep bees; however, I don't even know if it is legal in our town for anyone to be keeping bees. I don't want to cause trouble for anyone. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Reverse 911 is only for dire emergencies. Try the news media and locate clubs/organizations that would care about wildlife to get the word out. Here it's a chronic problem most years, as far as wildlife not having enough access to water during drought periods. There were times in the last decade where in spite of what little I could do here supplying water containers on a daily basis, it wasn't enough. In 2008 & 2009 was the worst here. During one summer all insect forms of life disappeared entirely except for one species of beetle that lived on cactus. The lizards and all amphibeans were gone, lots of other things. Some birds survived because they could get to whatever food & water sources that I and a few others put out, a few deer because they came for food and water every day. A few squirrels survived from what was put out. The bees were gone, the wasps could get to my water, but they finally disappeared also, most likely from lack of their food, they seemed to become weaker before they were gone. Wildlife came back later, for the most part...there's some species I've never seen since.

One important thing to remember, a lot of insects, as well as a lot of farm animals, will not drink warm water. Often we set up a hydrating area and if it is shallow, or in partial sun, it soon becomes undesirable because it gets too warm for them.

Thank you for writing Linda. I'm surprised and sorry to learn that the droughts in Texas have been such a problem to insects and wildlife. I cannot recall knowing before of anything similar here in my area of Massachusetts, but then we haven't had a prolonged drought in a long time. I suspect that the area beekeeper may be a newbie. I will take your suggestion about the news media and will write to our little town newspaper. This subject may be of interest to them. Thanks again.

Kat2014 said:Thank you for bringing up this subject. Apparently there are people in our suburban Springfield, MA area who are keeping bees, but maybe not providing water??? We've been in a heat spell and drought around here, and my concrete birdbath now has so many honeybees congregating around it that the birds have shied away from using it. I certainly don't want the bees to die, but I'm having trouble just trying to change the water in the birdbath. The bees get somewhat agitated whenever I try to dump the water. Yes, the water in the birdbath is too deep for them. I've tried setting out a large plant saucer for them, but they seem to prefer the birdbath, even though I've already had to rescue a number of them that have fallen in. What else can I do? I don't know who in the area is keeping the bees. I was wondering if our town might be willing to send out a Reverse 911 call, just to alert homeowners that they must provide water if they're going to keep bees; however, I don't even know if it is legal in our town for anyone to be keeping bees. I don't want to cause trouble for anyone. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Thanks for sharing your experiences Kat- I do have one suggestion, not the cheapest, but something that might keep both birds and bees happy. Maybe try two birdbaths? one with a normal amount of water for the birds and another one with the stones and pebbles in the water for your insects. I have red bee balm near the bird feeder and one or two branches usually droops right into the edge. I have seen a been climb out this way already.

This post is so informative, I'm going out right now to add pebbles to my bath in the backyard. That's where the majority of my flowers and veggies are. The bath for birds is in the front. Hopefully my bees will forgive me not doing it sooner!