Bees in trees -- HVX footage [Archive]

Greg Boston

May 4th, 2006, 02:15 PM

Bob Fagan posted this clip, and it just looks sweet so I thought I'd post a link here too.

http://web.mac.com/bobfagan/iWeb/HDFOOTAGE/Treebees.html

Nice footage, Barry. I used to live in a more rural area and I had my own beehive. I still have all my equipment, just no bees (city dweller).

Anyway, if you look at the back legs on these bees, you'll see large yellowish clumps attached. Those are their pollen baskets. Bees survive on the honey they make as well as pollen. Pollen is sort of like vitamin pills to bees. You'll only see this at certain times of the year. Other times, they are only collecting nectar to turn into honey. As a further note of what amazing insects they are, get this. The bees line up in the late evening and fan their wings to ripen the nectar into honey. They are able to get the moisture content to 20% +/- 1%.

I won't bore you with any more bee facts but I want to thank you for posting that link. I used to hate bees until I learned about them and became a beekeeper.

-gb-