Comments on: chilled bees & yellow rain

By: Molly

Molly — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 00:56:47 +0000

That lends a whole new meaning to the saying “when you gotta’ go you gotta’ go.”

By: burning silo

burning silo — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 16:54:18 +0000

Cindy – From what I’ve been told by friends up here, this kind of behaviour isn’t uncommon, but I guess it’s the end of the bees if they venture out on a cold day such as we had last Saturday. In any case, it certainly was a surprise (somewhat unpleasant) to find such a large number of bees stranded in the snow.

By: Cindy

Cindy — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 00:08:56 +0000

fascinating photos and post.. my Grandfather kept bees for years, but they didn’t get cold weather like this in Oklahoma. I have a great book called ‘keeper of the bees’ and it didn’t mention this abberant behavior. We had a small moth at the door yesterday, the sun alone is enough to warm alot of insects out of dormancy- unfortunately they don’t make it out there long.
As always, I learned something new by your post :)

By: burning silo

burning silo — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 03:48:47 +0000

Virginia – Thanks for posting some of your own experiences on Honey Bee behaviour. They certainly are interesting, and yes, they seem to have a mind of their own. I photograph a lot of Bumblebees and find that some of the species have very different termperaments than others. Some are quiet and some are quite aggressive. Lots to learn in any case!
-
Leslie – I think the strong sunlight must trick them.. perhaps making it seem as though it will be very warm outside. Once they get out flying around, it’s one of those “Arrrgh!!! I shouldn’t have left the hive!!”
How interesting about the bats and rain! Thaks for posting about it.
-
Cathy – Yes, very true about sense of scale. Since I started insect photography back about 4 years ago, my feelings concerning size of insects have chaged radiacally.