Many bees are known for nesting in the ground rather than in trees, wood, or man-made structures. These bees create their homes by digging tunnels and chambers in soil, where they raise their young and store food. Ground nesting is actually one of the most common nesting habits among bees, especially in natural landscapes such as meadows, gardens, and open fields.
The nests usually begin with a small entrance hole in the soil, which leads to a network of tunnels beneath the surface. Inside these tunnels are tiny chambers where eggs are laid. Each chamber is typically stocked with a mixture of pollen and nectar that serves as food for the developing larvae. Once the egg hatches, the larva feeds on this stored food until it matures.
Ground-nesting bees tend to prefer well-drained soil that is easy to dig into. Sunny areas with loose or sandy soil are often ideal nesting sites. You may sometimes notice small mounds of soil around the entrance holes, which are created as the bees excavate their tunnels.
Despite living in the ground, these bees are usually not aggressive and rarely sting unless directly threatened. Many of them live solitary lives, meaning each individual constructs and manages its own nest rather than forming large colonies. However, many nests may appear in the same area if the conditions are suitable.
These bees play an important role in pollination and are valuable for both wild ecosystems and agriculture. By visiting flowers to collect nectar and pollen, they help plants reproduce and support biodiversity.
Bees that Nest in the Ground
Mining Bees (Andrena)
Mining bees are among the largest groups of bees, with hundreds of species that emerge early in the spring. They are solitary nesters, meaning each female digs her own tunnel, typically in well-drained, sandy soil with sparse vegetation. While they are solitary, they often nest in “aggregations” where many individuals build their separate homes in the same small area, creating a landscape of tiny mounds that resemble miniature volcanoes.
Sweat Bees (Halictidae)
Commonly known as sweat bees due to their attraction to human perspiration for its salt content, many species in this family are ground-nesters. Their nesting behavior varies significantly; some are strictly solitary, while others exhibit semi-social behavior where several females share a single entrance. They prefer sunny patches of bare earth and are known for their metallic colors, ranging from dull black to vibrant, shimmering greens and blues.
Digger Bees (Anthophora)
Digger bees are robust, furry bees that are often mistaken for bumble bees due to their size and flight patterns. They are exceptional excavators, capable of digging deep into the earth or even into hard-packed clay banks. These bees are highly efficient pollinators and are often found in large nesting colonies, though each female is responsible for her own burrow and the provisioning of her larvae with pollen and nectar.
Long-horned Bees (Eucerini)
These bees get their name from the males’ remarkably long antennae, which can sometimes be as long as their entire bodies. The females are diligent ground-nesters that prefer to build their burrows in flat or slightly sloping ground. They are particularly important for the pollination of late-summer wildflowers and agricultural crops, often specializing in specific plant families like the Asteraceae.
Squash Bees (Peponapis)
Squash bees are specialist pollinators that have evolved a tight relationship with plants in the genus Cucurbita, such as pumpkins and squash. Unlike many other bees that nest in varied environments, squash bees often build their nests directly in the soil beneath the large leaves of their host plants. This proximity allows them to begin foraging at dawn, often finishing their work before other bee species have even emerged for the day.
Plasterer Bees (Colletes)
Plasterer bees are named for their unique ability to line the walls of their underground brood cells with a biological secretion that hardens into a waterproof, cellophane-like material. This lining is crucial for protecting the developing larvae from ground moisture and soil-borne fungi. They are typically found nesting in sandy banks or soft soil, often in large, noisy aggregations during the peak of their spring or summer flight seasons.
Alkali Bees (Nomia melanderi)
The alkali bee is a unique ground-nester that thrives in the salty, alkaline soils of the western United States. They are so effective at pollinating alfalfa that some farmers create “bee beds”—artificial areas of salty soil—to encourage them to nest. These bees are gregarious, meaning thousands of individuals may nest side-by-side in a single square meter of soil, yet they maintain a solitary lifestyle within their individual tunnels.
Bumble Bees (Bombus)
While bumble bees are famous for their social colonies, the vast majority of their nesting occurs underground. A queen bumble bee typically searches for an abandoned rodent burrow or a natural cavity beneath the soil to start her colony in the spring. Within these hidden chambers, she builds wax pots to store honey and rears several generations of workers throughout the summer to support the expanding hive.
Yellow-faced Bees (Hylaeus)
Yellow-faced bees are small, slender insects that lack the external pollen-carrying hairs found on most other bees; instead, they carry pollen internally in a crop. While some species nest in hollow stems, many are ground-nesters that utilize pre-existing tunnels or soft earth. They are often mistaken for small wasps because of their smooth bodies and the distinct yellow or white markings on their faces.
Cellophane Bees (Colletidae)
Similar to the Plasterer bee, the Cellophane bee produces a polyester-like lining for its nest cells. This substance is remarkably durable and serves as a chemical barrier that regulates humidity and prevents the liquid provisions (a mix of nectar and pollen) from soaking into the surrounding soil. Their nests are usually found in sandy or silty soils where drainage is optimal for the survival of their offspring.
Cuckoo Bees (Nomada)
Cuckoo bees are “cleptoparasites,” meaning they do not build their own nests or collect pollen. Instead, the female searches for the ground nests of other bees, primarily Mining bees. She sneaks into an open burrow, lays her egg in a cell provisioned by the host, and her larva later consumes the host’s egg and the stored food. Because they don’t forage for pollen, they lack the fuzzy appearance of most bees and often look like red and black wasps.
Chimney Bees (Anthophora abrupta)
Chimney bees are a specific type of digger bee famous for their architectural skills. At the entrance of their underground burrows, they construct elaborate turrets or “chimneys” out of mud. These structures can be several inches long and are thought to serve multiple purposes, including protecting the nest from flooding, deterring parasites, and helping to regulate the temperature and airflow within the tunnel system.
Southeastern Blueberry Bees (Habropoda laboriosa)
This bee is a highly specialized ground-nester that is essential for the pollination of blueberries in the southern United States. They emerge from their underground wintering sites just as the blueberry bushes begin to bloom. They are “buzz pollinators,” meaning they vibrate their flight muscles at a specific frequency to shake pollen loose from the flowers, a task they perform with incredible speed and efficiency.
Sunflower Bees (Svastra)
Sunflower bees are large, hairy ground-nesters that are primarily active in the late summer and autumn. They prefer to nest in open, sun-drenched areas with firm soil. As specialists, they are most frequently seen on sunflowers and other large composite blooms, where they collect massive amounts of pollen to store in their subterranean chambers for the next generation.
Sand Bees (Andrena vicina)
As their name implies, Sand bees are specialists in loose, sandy substrates. They are frequently found in coastal dunes, sand pits, or garden beds with high sand content. Their tunnels can be surprisingly deep, reaching several decimeters below the surface to reach more stable temperatures and moisture levels. They are solitary but often share the same general habitat with hundreds of others of their kind.
Triepeolus Bees
Triepeolus bees are another variety of cuckoo bee, easily recognized by the distinct “smiley face” or wedge-shaped patterns on their black and white bodies. They primarily target the ground nests of Long-horned bees. By bypassing the labor of nest building, they spend their time patrolling nesting sites, waiting for a host female to leave her burrow so they can deposit their own eggs in the unguarded nursery.
Centris Bees
Found mostly in warmer climates, Centris bees are known as “oil-collecting bees.” While they still collect pollen and nectar, they also have specialized scrapers on their legs to collect floral oils from specific plants. They use these oils to line their ground nests and mix them with pollen to create a highly nutritious food source for their larvae, making their underground homes unique in the bee world.
Lasioglossum (Dialictus)
This genus contains some of the smallest and most numerous bees in the world. Many species within this group are ground-nesters that prefer to build their tiny tunnels in the cracks of dry soil or between paving stones. Despite their small size, they play a massive role in the ecosystem because of their sheer numbers and their ability to pollinate a wide variety of small, inconspicuous flowers.
Green Sweat Bees (Agapostemon)
These are perhaps the most visually striking of the ground-nesting bees, often featuring a brilliant metallic green head and thorax. While some species are solitary, others demonstrate communal nesting, where multiple females use a single main entrance tunnel but maintain their own individual brood chambers branching off from it. This shared labor helps provide better defense against nest predators.
Melissodes Bees
Melissodes are a common group of long-horned bees found in gardens and prairies across North America. They nest in the earth, often preferring flat ground with little cover. The females are exceptionally fast flyers and are often seen darting between flowers in the late afternoon. Their underground tunnels are meticulously constructed to ensure the larvae are safe from the temperature extremes of late summer.
Dieunomia Bees
Dieunomia bees are large, impressive insects that are often found in the Great Plains. They are known for digging very deep, vertical shafts in the soil, sometimes extending over a meter deep. They prefer areas with sparse vegetation and firm soil, where they can build stable tunnels. Their size and deep-nesting habits make them highly resilient to surface-level disturbances like grazing or mowing.