Sleeping Bees

John P Weiser · Post by **John P Weiser** » Sat Aug 02, 2008 4:23 pm

I went out early this morning and what should I find cuddled up in the blossoms of Tetraneuris ivesiana (syn.Hymenoxys acaulis)and Mentzelia laeviculmis (blazing star)but clusters of small sleeping bees. It was a cool morning so they had not started their busy day yet.

sierrarainshadow

birdguy34 · Post by **birdguy34** » Sat Aug 02, 2008 6:12 pm

They all look so cozy. Great pics John.
Chris

peterb · Post by **peterb** » Sat Aug 02, 2008 6:36 pm

Bees sleep? I guess I should have known they must, but have never seen it. Love the pics, thanks.

peterb

hablu · Post by **hablu** » Sat Aug 02, 2008 7:21 pm

Great pictures!
Thanks. harry

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Sat Aug 02, 2008 7:54 pm

Hmm, thats interesting. I always thought they returned to the hive before going to sleep. Never seen that before.
Thanks John.

Post by **CoronaCactus** » Sat Aug 02, 2008 8:28 pm

Good eye John, great pics.

Bee Camp-out?
Slumber Party?
No designated flyer?

alikat · Post by **alikat** » Sat Aug 02, 2008 10:47 pm

That's real neat. Thanks for sharing.

ihc6480 · Post by **ihc6480** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 1:59 am

Great pics John, never seen sleeping bees before.

tvaughan · Post by **tvaughan** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 12:41 pm

They aren't honeybees; they look more like wasps, although they may be another type of bee.

John P Weiser · Post by **John P Weiser** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 4:21 pm

They are little solitary bees. (in parts of America known as sweat bees)They dig their brood chambers in the sandy dry soils. I do not believe they nest in the chambers as adults.
I got to wondering if they do this every night so I checked last night and they were clustering up in the flowers at sundown. They wake up when the temps hit about 75F.
sierrarainshadow

TimN · Post by **TimN** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 9:56 pm

You learn something new every day!

Thanks John, very interesting!

Tim

ihc6480 · Post by **ihc6480** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 10:32 pm

Sound like sharecropper bees to me. They stay there till the harvesting is done then move on

cactusveda · Post by **cactusveda** » Mon Aug 04, 2008 3:55 pm

amazing! never thought of this. am already searching some flowers around......

Post by **daiv** » Mon Aug 04, 2008 9:29 pm

I don't bee-lieve it!

hegar · Post by **hegar** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 4:22 am

Hello John,
your could go ahead and pick a bouquet of bees that way!

At least you still have bees around. The news tells me that the number of both domestic and wild bees is precariously low and still declining due to some as yet unknown factors. One chemical that was mentioned is my favorite imidacloprid, which supposedly is still present in the pollen grains and is thus picked up by bees. However, the jury is still out and most researchers believe, that the malaise is caused by multiple factors. There is even some talk about hybridizing the Italian honeybee with some more sturdy honeybee from central to eastern Europe. I have not heard yet, if the africanized honeybee (killer bee), that has already made inroads in this country is more resistant to the bee decline problem.

Harald