Honeybees?

[MuseRider]

I know someone here will be able to help me ID these bees. At first I thought they might be Mason Bees looking for mud but after looking around I think they may be honeybees. They were all over the place. I went carefully so as not to disrupt them, they were not happy with me squatting there taking their pictures. Anyway, I would love to know.

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[Denninmi]

1. Yes, those are honeybees.

They like to take water from muddy little spots like that.

[MuseRider]

3. Thanks, this is good to know.

I was stepping up onto the little dock on our pond when I was swarmed around my ankles and I heard them. I was out taking pictures so it was a really lucky happening. I just stopped and when they settled down I was amazed by how many there were. I tried to see where they would go after leaving but was unable to see. I have pretty good idea where they are. We have been really pretty lucky here to always see them around the farm but if it were not for Mason bees and Bumblebees I am not sure our garden would have been pollinated the last two years. The Honeybees were scarce. This is encouraging.

They looked like they were just stopping to drink. It was really fun to watch them, I just kept taking photos and they just left me alone.

[Curmudgeoness]

2. They certainly look just like honeybees.

I have never seen this behavior in honeybees, but that doesn't mean it isn't a honeybee. Kudos to you for taking the chance to get the picture. If you don't get any decent answers here, you should find a good honeybee site and post that picture to see if you can get an explanation of the behavior----I would be interested to know. This reminds me of a time when I found about 50 honeybees congregating on some moss.

[MuseRider]

4. Post #1 is what I thought they were doing.

They would come in, put their little faces in the water then buzz off. Lots of them. In my previous answer, I was so lucky to be out taking pictures when this happened. They swarmed around my ankles but never seemed aggressive or upset that I was there. I just squatted down and took the shots.

[Arkansas Granny]

5. Those look like honeybees to me. My daughter had an interesting experience a couple of

weeks ago with honeybees. I posted about it here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1018100072

She's going to check with the beekeeper to see if they settled in. I'll report back with updates.

[beac]

6. What a great story!

I've been pleased to see my local hive reactivating this spring. With all the bad bee news around, I'm always grateful that my local ones haven't been hit so far.

[MuseRider]

7. That is a wonderful story!

I am going to try to locate the hive, just so I can watch it. I have an old walnut tree that is half dead. Almost all the way dead actually, that sits right on the bank of the pond. I think when we had the flood in 2007 it just about finished it off. Anyway, it had two large sections of branches and one came off during a wind storm a couple of years ago. I left it on the ground for the critters. The still standing half is pretty bad. There are numerous old bird holes where there has been nesting. It is pretty close to where I saw them so I am wondering if they would nest there. Anyway, my best guess. I probably should study up on them a little more.

As long as they are around and look healthy I will leave them to it.

Please let us know how the bees settled in. That is so nice. I am glad to hear they are bouncing back. We need them.

[mtnester]

8. Honeybees are agressively making wax right now, and that requires a ton of water

our birdbath is full of bees, any standing shallow water is humming right now. My hives are building comb as fast as they can. Totally normal for them this time of year when raising enough brood to bring in the honey during full season

[MuseRider]

9. Thank you mtnester!

All these answers have been great. I was hoping for someone who raised bees who could tell me maybe some reason in specific why I am seeing them now.

Walked through there yesterday and it was very active. I sure wish I knew where they were going so I could watch, from afar, what they are doing.

Do you know if they will move if I walk through there often? It is right by our boat dock so I go out every day to feed the fish and take a quick paddle around the pond. I try not to disturb them. There are not a lot of places where there isn't vegetation all the way down to the water so this is ideal for them and I don't want them to move just because I am walking by there. Just wondering.

[mtnester]

10. They should be "inside" something...the best time to maybe find where they are is around 4:00

when there is a return traffic jam. Try and watch which way they fly off from the water...you will at least learn their general direction. Walking around should not cause them to run.

[Thomus12]

11. Honeybees

Hi,
Yes these are honeybees. Be careful if you face any such encounter with these bees. These are small but really very dangerous.



___________________
Dewalt

[MuseRider]

12. Well I am not allergic so how are they dangerous?

These have not bothered me one bit, they do start buzzing around when I walk by them but I am careful not because I am afraid of them but because I don't want them to stop what they are doing, they seem to think it is important . Really, I have never heard they were dangerous. Could you tell me why you say this?

[tru]

13. Only dangerous if you're allergic n/t