Frigid Mining Bee Andrena frigida

These mining bees excavate underground burrows rather than nesting in wood, carving tunnel systems where females provision individual cells with pollen and nectar for their offspring. Adapted to North America's coldest regions, they emerge early in spring when few other pollinators are active. Unlike honeybees, these are solitary miners with no colonies or social structures—each female digs, provisions, and guards her own nest entirely alone, serving as vital pollinators for early-blooming wildflowers in harsh climates where few other bees venture.