Bees, Busy or Not?

Busy as a bee. I don’t remember the first time I heard that expression but I do remember enjoying the onomatopoeia of the expression when I was quite young. Back then I enjoyed the actual creatures less and always from a distance. Like most children, I was afraid of getting stung.

Since I began gardening I have become more comfortable with bees especially the gentle native bees such as sweat bees, mason bees and bumblebees. I can comfortably hold still while the former land on me.

Having watched these insects in my garden for a number of years, they do not seem the least bit busy. The overall impression they give is that of being out for a stroll in the sunshine.

For the first time this summer, I can imagine how the phrase came to be. In April a local beekeeper put two hives in my yard. Impulsively, I offered my yard as a location for two hives while discussion his expanding business at the Farmer’s Market last fall.

Bees in the hive

Over the winter I went back and read the postings on Neil Gaiman’s blog about his hives. I considered what it would be like to have hives in my tiny yard. I especially considered what effect the bees would have on the native bees. Would the honey bees displace the natives?

Now, two months after the hives were installed, I can say that the hives have not had any impact on the native honey bees that I can discern. While I haven’t taken an actual count, there seem to be as many bees as in previous summers.  If anything there may be more bumblebees a particularly happy situation given their decline in population since the early 90’s.

No, the honey bees haven’t chased the natives away but watching them has made me more aware of the natives and their unique behavior. Bees leaving and returning to the hive create an air space that would drive an air traffic controller crazy. Focus on one individual and you will notice that its path is directed and purposeful. It leaves knowing exactly where it intends to go and returns without getting distracted on the way.

By contrast the natives are wanderers. Their flight is slower and they move from bloom to bloom seemingly at random. Yet the native bees must do everything to survive that that hive bees must and for the most part on their own.

The honey bees can fly directly back to their hive protected as it is by sheer numbers, as many as sixty thousand bees in a single hive box. Solitary bees or those that belong to a smaller colony must protect their nest by preventing its detection. While there are certainly a number of these nesting in my yard, I have only once witnessed one entering its ground hole.

All of this has made me wishful that I had paid more attention to the bees in earlier years. I believe that there are as many native bees as before but I have no data to back this up. Maybe there seem to be more because I am looking for them more mindfully?

Recently I became aware of a particular citizen science project called the Great Sunflower Project.* The purpose of the project is to better understand the native pollinators and where they are working. My sun flowers haven’t bloomed yet but once they do I plan on collecting data about what bees visit the bloom.

* See the link to the right

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