Easter Sunday and Bumble Bees

Late Saturday night, eve of Easter Sunday....

                                          

 

It is still Saturday, not yet Sunday, not yet Easter. By the time I finish making this entry, I have a feeling Sunday morning will be well on its way.

I have quite a bit to write about, but where to begin? School is out for a week, that is good news.

I'm going to visit my husband's family tomorrow, without him because he has to work. Yes, he has to work on Easter Sunday. I was unable to visit his family last Thanksgiving and Christmas because on both occasions, I became too sick and stayed home. I am very thankful that this holiday my body did not decide this was a good time to get sick.

Vacations and holidays are so much nicer when one is healthy and well. As a result of this good health, I am getting a lot of housework done (mostly because it is too cold and windy to do anything outside).

I want to write about honeybees, bumblebees, and carpenter bees. I owe it to them. I took some great photos of the humble bumble bee a few days ago when temperatures darn near felt like summer. Yet this morning (Saturday), driving into town, I saw several cars capped with snow... obviously visitors from the north (I'm just an hour south of Virginia, in NC).

How informed are you about bees? I know more now than I did fifteen years ago. If I knew then what I know now, I would not have encouraged my husband to kill a nest of bumble bees about that many years ago. The bees had taken over an unoccupied bird house hanging from the branch of a tree, dangling just about a foot above our heads. I was standing right below it, they perceived a threat probably when I started waving my hands as I was talking. As I ran into the house, three of the angry bees followed me and stung me. The welts lasted for over a month.

After the bees calmed down, my husband and son made several attempts to dislodge the rather small bee's nest, and killed the bees. We thought it was a good thing we had done, you know, protecting our home and yard. But like I said, we were very ignorant then. Anything that buzzed and looked like a bee was a threat in our minds.

Today I want to set the record straight: bumble bees are not dangerous... (unless you are allergic to bee stings and one stings you, I suppose). They are not aggressive, unless they feel threatened, and obviously they felt threatened by our presence that day long ago. If you act wildly around their nest, that is cause for their alarm. The males lack stingers, and the stingers of the females don't rip from their abdomens as happens when a honeybee stings you.

                    

This is a bumble bee in flight, no less! I had gone outside last week to take pictures of the honey bees, but I saw mostly bumble bees. My camera lense is about two-three inches from the critter. I took about 20 photos, and not once did they seem bothered by my presence.

The bumble bee is huge compared to the honey bee. In fact, according to some facts I read on the internet, this one may very well be a queen bee because it is still early spring. Here's a portion of what I read about bumble bees:

"In the first warm days of Spring you may see the large queens flying busily about the early bulbs and flowers. These large slow bees are searching for nectar and pollen to turn into honey and food for their newly hatching brood. So the organic gardener plants lots of pollen producing flowers and leaves an unmown patch of early dandelions in the wild garden or hedgerow to feed the young queens."

http://hercules.users.netlink.co.uk/Bee.html

                          

Here you can easily see the pollen basket filling up on the bee's hind leg. While she's sipping at the flower nectar (azalea blossoms), her legs and body hairs catch the pollen that falls from the flowers. As she visits each flower, some of the pollen falls from her body onto the flowers, pollinating them, and the rest she carries back to her nest. Bees use the pollen for food as well as the nectar.

                               

Now this bee looks a bit like the bumble bee, but my friend, it is a Carpenter Bee. The main difference in appearance that I can see is that Carpenter bees have a shiny black abdomen, mostly hairless, whereas a bumble bee has a hairy black abdomen.

Male carpenter bees have a white face... and though it can be somewhat unsettling when you come face to face with a hovering carpenter bee, take heart. If the face is white, it has no stinger. Usually, they will encounter you while they are searching for a mate, but will not attack you. Just move away from it.

You don't want a carpenter bee to be hovering around the eaves of your house. That's a sure sign that an excavation of tunnels is taking place... they like to chew tunnels into the wood of your home. You've probably seen them searching for a choice location to start the nest near the roof of your house. If you haven't seen one, you may have heard one... there is an unmistakable buzzing, chewing sound that emanates from the roof area of your home when they are busy at their destructive (to us) craft.

The link above will take you to a site that tells you how to prevent carpenter bee infestation, and how to get rid of them once you have them. It isn't easy. And they can do great damage to your home over time.

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Here is the Honey Bee! Her body is smaller and more slender than the bumble bee, and she is much more difficult to photograph. She buzzes about in a quicker fashion than the bumble bee, flitting about from flower to flower so fast I can not predict where she will go next. On the other hand, Bumble bee takes her time, and lingers upon each flower just long enough for someone with curiosity and a digital camera to snap the picture.

Some interesting facts: "Each year, the honey bees pollinate 95 crops worth an estimated $10 billion in the United States. ...Top honey-producing states are California, Florida, and South Dakota. ...China is the world's top honey-producer (in 1997 created more than 140,000 metric tons of honey!)."

It's no wonder that a cry went out across our country when millions of bees were dying (still are?) as a result of a parasite, the varroa mite. Many beekeepers in North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and California have lost more than half of their beehives to the killer parasite, which is about the size of a grain of salt. For many farmers, bees are the only way their tree crops get pollinated. This is no less than a devastating event... for the bees. the farmers, the plants, and finally, for those of us who buy fruits and vegetables grown in these areas.

So when you are out in your yard taking pictures, be mindful of the bees. Don't be afraid of them. They're only working very hard to pollinate the flowers all over the world, and all they need from us is to leave them alone so they can do their work. Take the time to watch them as they work. It will impress you if you give at least ten minutes to following them around. Observe their flight, how they seek out the flowers of choice, how they don't mind that you are watching them. If you live near an active beehive, you are more fortunate.

Oh, the bees also need lots of flowers, so if you have time this week, go out there and plant some flowers (when it gets a bit warmer!), especially the pollinating ones. I know, if you have allergies, this doesn't sound like something you'd care to do. Okay, so allergy sufferers stay inside, the rest of us will plant the flowers!

Happy Easter!

                                 

 

                                                      Bee tag by Donna

 

Tags: Bees, bumble bees, carpenter bees, honey bees