A bee showed up nearby on some cultivated flowers in the sun, so I headed there too.
Eventually, two of the Bumbles returned to the patch of onions and other weeds.
And finally, this may also be classified as a weed, but I like it.
Permalink: http://jilcp.blogspot.com/2014/09/bees-and-weeds.html
These photos are exquisite.
ReplyDeletehttp://theoatmeal.com/comics/bees_vs_hornets
ReplyDeleteFortunately for me, none of the bees I approached were at all aggressive. As for Japanese hornets, I don't have the ability to raise my body temp to 47ºC, nor am I part of a swarm of photographers who could form a ball like those bees! It is quite an amazing strategy!
DeleteYes, a bee keeper I know said this: "Yep! All true. There is even a PBS film (probably on the internet in youtube or somewhere by now) showing the “balling” of a hornet. But if there are more than just a single handful of them even a big strong hive can be destroyed. The key is having a honey bee attach itself to the hornet and live long enough for the alarm/attack pheromone to summon enough other bees to make the ball effective."
ReplyDeleteHere's a National Geographic podcast that explains and shows the whole fascinating sequence: http://youtu.be/K6m40W1s0Wc
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