Take these bees for instance. At the house of an older lady that lives down the block, these insects have been clustering every evening around her porch light...
Now, everybody learned in grade school that bees go home to the hive every night and re-emerge every morning to go about their business of polinating and nectar gathering...
My first thought was that they were somehow missing from their hive and were just clustering on the light for the warmth it puts out... but they've been there all summer. And our night temps don't drop that much in the summer... about 10 to 15 degrees. It's quite common for us to have temps in the upper 80's every evening, so I doubt warmth has much to do with it...
Whatever the reason, they are a menace. I've checked thoroughly, and there's no hive in the neighborhood. I don't know what they're doing. Except being a menace... you see, every morning there's a bunch of bees who have lost their purchase all over the sidewalk, yard and porch... ambling about in a lethargic manner and getting caught in the fur of Miss D's little dog... which brings them inside where they suddenly wake up and just aren't happy. It's quite a nuisance.Miss D, a few days ago, sprayed some sort of insecticide on the poles and lights when no bees were present, and it seems to have been enough to repel them and keep them at bay... no more stung doggies or senior citizens... but I would like to know what was going on...
Very strange. Maybe survivors from a hive that was destroyed?
ReplyDeleteClaude,
ReplyDeleteInteresting post, my knowledge of bee's is the grade school type you mentioned so I will also be interested in finding out the cause. - G
Of course, it's quite possible that they're not your average honey bee... they might be some other sort of bee... There are orchard bees, and leaf cutters, and hundreds of bee species that all look about the same.
ReplyDeleteI've been reading about Colony Collapse Disorder, scary for beekeepers and the agri-industry, sad for the bees. Hope this isn't the case here. I've also read (somewhere?...) about instances where a hive has two queens and one takes off with some of the workers to set up new digs. I agree though, the porchlight isn't a safe place to settle. Clever and compassionate of Miss D to set out the chemical "NO VACANCY" sign when they were out. Hope they make out okay whatever the circumstances.
ReplyDeleteThat is pretty weird indeed! I agree with Thomas, I had seen a show about Colony Collapse and these could be bees that don't have a leader.
ReplyDelete