We have been uploading our vacation pictures, which also means looking at old pictures as we go in an effort to do some kind of sorting. We had a little pond in front of our house about ten years ago, it was a magnet for wildlife. It was really delightful to sit on the porch and watch the critters come and grab a drink. Birds, frogs and insects were regular customers, and we got a LOT of pictures with our then-new camera. I saw that @killerwhale made bees the topic of his #killerpix contest this week and this pic was fresh in my mind. A lot of people are willing to do whatever they can to help the struggling bee population, but few know this little trick to help them safely quench their little bee thirst:
Found himself some moss and roots to stay high and dry on.
Photo taken with Fuji FinePix S8300 in the summer of 2008
They need a shallow pool, with stuff sticking up for them to stand on. There are many ways to do this, the clever gentleman who wrote the linked article is re-purposing wine corks for the task. We placed sloping rocks all along the edge of the pond so there was always a "bee ramp" where they could get a sip of water without any danger of drowning. They really are not good swimmers... A simple bird bath can be filled with rocks or marbles to achieve the same bee-bar and it really is heart warming to watch the little fellers come have a sip. You know your garden won't grow without them so make sure you offer your pollinators a nice watering hole!