08/08/2024
Wow! So many interesting facts that I didn't know about bees.
I love bees. I always try to help them whenever they're in trouble, like when I find one drowning in the pool.
When I was a kid, I would often inspect my pool after school and try to save any bees or insects that might need my help.
To this day, when I go to the beach and if there is a strong South Easterly blowing, I usually find a lot of bees along the shoreline. They're usually so exhausted, that when I pick them up, I never have to worry about them stinging me. At times, I could have 5-8 bees cupped in my hands. You'll also see me running back and forth from the shoreline to the dunes multiple times, taking the bees to safety.
It can be a time consuming job, and often makes my beach walks less relaxing, but I enjoy doing it lol.
This is an old bee.
How can you tell? First of all, if we see a bee on a flower it means she is a forager, and forager is a job for older, stronger bees. Bees have inside the hive jobs first, like cleaning or taking care of babies.
Second, we can tell by looking at her that she's been through some stuff. Her wing edges are pretty tattered and the fuzziness has worn off of much of her body.
So, this old lady is probably getting up there in age and may be 5 or 6 weeks old.
Yeah, that's old fora bee. During the working seasons, worker bees typically only.live about 6 weeks. (Winter bees are another story.for another day.) So next time you see a bee on a flower, remember she's an old lady and she's got work to do. Show some respect