As winter comes to an end and the weather begins to warm, the buzzing of bees will increase. Instead of focusing on the well-known European honeybees, which live in large hives, this article is about our native solitary bees. There are more than 3,500 species of solitary bees in North America, with approximately 315 of these efficient pollinator species living here in Florida. Solitary bees have many advantages over honeybees as pollinators. They fly rapidly, pollinate more plants, typically don’t sting, work on cloudy days, start earlier in the morning (as in 7 a.m. or earlier), and work later in the afternoon.