While I’ve taken hundreds of honey bee shots, this is the only one I have showing two bees working side by side.
Tag Archives: #honey bees
Double Duty
Natural team work is defined as side by side honey bees in a flower.
A Sacramento Bee…
Once in awhile I take photos of honey bees that are not from my hive. This particular bee is feasting on wildflowers in a Sacramento front yard. My guess is that it lives nearby in a makeshift hive wedged between a brick chimney and a wood roof.
A Bee’s Wings
The honey bee’s wings can beat 250 times per second. Yet if the wings get too wet, the bee loses its ability to fly. I find dead bees floating in a bird bath by my hive nearly every day.
Honey Bee Update
Rare visit by bee to a pansy.
The side of our house smells like honey during the day this week and well it should as the bees are foraging like crazy. Flower choices are limited at this time of year, perhaps, that is why I saw a bee land on a pansy–bees aren’t attracted to this flower and it left after a few seconds. We keep my bee-attracting growth in one area–like heather and lavender.
Now, this is more like it.
I took a shot of bees returning to the hive–note the yellow sac on the bee in the upper right–that’s collected nectar.
Bee in upper left returning with a full nectar (yellow) sac.
Bees, birds and butterflies are responsible for pollenating more than a third of the crops in the world.
The Honey Bee Struggle
Honey bee searches for water in drought conditions.
Reasons why honey bees are disappearing is a common research subject these days. Last month a new study suggested that poor nutrition is producing a less prodigious bee. A solution would be to provide bees with year-round access to pesticide-free plants, a dynamic not feasible in areas with cold winters. My California honey bees bask in the sun most of the year, only this year the lack of rain threatens to shorten the blooming season for drought tolerant flowers like California poppies and nasturtiums. The struggle continues.
