It might seem peculiar, bees living at the beach.

But this is their home, and they spend the  spring building their perfect beach condos.

At their local watering hole,  they’re not actually having a drink.

They’re collecting water as a raw material.

They slurp it into a pouch in  their abdomen called a crop.

They can carry one sixth of their weight in water,   hauling it to the side of this  cliff in Northern California.

Now that’s a view!

Back and forth, back and forth, 80 times a day.

They’re building their nests  from the cliff’s mix of sand,   clay and gravel, spraying water to soften it up.

See how she extends her proboscis  and uses it like a hose?

Then she digs and digs and digs.

They’re digger bees.

The females   build their nests side by side  in what’s called an aggregation.

The males, most of them have  died by now, after mating.

The females work peacefully … most of the time.

Hey, make your own nest!

Some even make sandcastles, shaping  the earth they dig out into a turret.

To do that, they pat down the wet  gravel with the tip of their abdomen.

Scientists think the turrets could help keep out  large parasitic insects, like other kinds of bees.

This cratered landscape isn’t unusual.

Most of  the world’s bee species – 70%!

– nest underground.

The nest opening leads to a  burrow a couple of inches long.

At the bottom, she digs holes called brood  cells.

She will lay an egg in each one.

But first she needs to stock up  on food for her future offspring.

This flower is a favorite for nectar.

And check out the pollen on this bee.

Wait a minute!

That’s not our digger  bee.

That’s a yellow-faced bumblebee.

She’ll sting you if you mess with her.

Our  bee is a bumblebee mimic.

She doesn’t sting.

The real bumblebee has a bright-yellow  band on the bottom of her abdomen.

Our bee has a band higher up.

By imitating a  stinging bumblebee, she scares predators away.

Back from foraging, our digger packs pollen and  nectar into each cell and lays an egg on top.

The larva that hatches out  will have a ready-made meal.

Then she tears down her turret, bit by bit.

She uses it as mortar to seal her  nest closed and keep her eggs safe.

After finishing a couple of nests, the bee’s  brief, hardworking life comes to an end.

The beach will be her final  resting place.

And next year,   the ever-shifting sand will bear witness  to her young emerging from their nests.