Lydia Vvinters8h ago

Stumble-bee rescue

This morning I spotted a bumblebee dropping out of the sky. The night can still be rather cold and the poor thing was only barely awake at all because of it. I let it climb onto my hand and gave it some lukewarm sugar water. After it warmed up, it did some charming calisthenics, and managed to fly off again.
I used to give such bees honey water, but that can be very bad for their little bee family, so I recommend sunshine and sugar water in such cases.💚

#bees #bugs #nature

Show threadSimon Zerafa

@HeliaXyana

Possibly a solitary bee? I've seen a few around here in Wales so far, now the weather is s warming up 🙂

6:30amWeb
Show threadNoli timere4h ago
@simonzerafa @HeliaXyana Looks like a queen Bombus lucorum to me (i.e. a bumblebee). It has two yellow bands and a bright white bum, which means it’s probably not a Bombus terrestris (2 yellow bands, tawny bum) and definitely not a B. pratensis (2 yellow bands, orange bum) or B. hortorum (white bum, 3 yellow bands). Other common species are B. pascuorum (all brown) and B. lapidarius (black, orange bum). And there are also some less common species. They also have slightly different face shapes.
Show threadLydia Vvinters3h ago

@nolitimere @simonzerafa

I'm far from an expert on my fuzzy buzzy busy friends. It may be solitary, though there are certainly enough of them having a pollinating party at my flowering cherry trees at the moment. So, not that solitary. 😉

Thanks for the excellent bee facts. I love the idea of having started my day by rescuing teeny tiny fluffy royalty. Ha! 🐝

Show threadNoli timere2h ago
@HeliaXyana @simonzerafa Yes, she is a queen: she overwintered alone, but she is fertile, and in spring starts a colony on her own (i.e. not solitary), and raises her daughters (sterile females = workers) who help her collect pollen and nectar to raise more broods of workers, until in summer the colony is big enough to produce males and new queens… who mate. During late summer/fall, the new queens forage to get fat enough to hibernate over winter. In spring, the emerge and the cycle starts again
Show threadNoli timere2h ago
@HeliaXyana @simonzerafa The term “solitary” as applied to bees and wasps means that each female provisions her own nest, on her own. Even if they live very close to other bees of the same species (in an “aggregation”). As opposed to social species, wherein females get help from related females to provision the young, in a “colony”. In honeybees, the colony is perennial: the queen lives up to 4+ years after mating. In bumblebees, the queen lives up to ~1 year, and the colony for up to ~6 months.
Show threadSimon Zerafa2h ago

@nolitimere @HeliaXyana

Looks like we need to upgrade the A Team to the Bee Team 😄🐝

Show threadLydia Vvinters2h ago

@simonzerafa @nolitimere

HA! Absolutely. I'd definitely watch that! Actually, am I right now.

Show threadLydia Vvinters2h ago

@nolitimere @simonzerafa

Ah, interesting. I wondered how that cycle works since I noticed a load of bumblebees snuggled up against the lavender in the evenings during some late summer days. I was told those were males who no longer need to return to their colony. Which felt a bit cruel, like those little dudes were the rejected ones. But it seems they were just not needed any more.

I like the idea of my garden buzzing with girl power right now.

Show threadNoli timere1h ago

@HeliaXyana @simonzerafa Yes, male bumblebees spend their days cruising for mates (and sipping nectar for fuel), and their nights snuggled up somewhere dry, often close to flowers that they can crawl onto and start drinking nectar from in the a.m.

Males scentmark foliage on routes that they fly over and over; the females can smell the scentmarks so know when a male to mate with is near. Charles Darwin reportedly stationed his children near plants to help him study male scentmarking behavior.

Show threadNoli timere1h ago

@HeliaXyana @simonzerafa Reference:

Freeman, R.B. (1968) Charles Darwin on the routes of male humble bees. Bull. Br. Mus. nat. Hist. (Hist. ser.). 3(6):179-189

https://darwin-online.org.uk/converted/published/1968_bees_F1581.html

https://www.bumblebee.org/behaviourMale.htm

Darwin, C. R. 1968. Charles Darwin on the routes of male humble bees. Freeman, R. B. ed. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). Historical Series Vol. 3, pp. 177-189

Show threadLydia Vvinters58m ago

@nolitimere @simonzerafa

Hmm, I did make some scented oil from those lavender flowers. Perhaps I now smell like a sexy male bumblebee. 😁

I've heard of multiple instances of Darwin getting his children involved in his research. I think he had one of his sons blow a horn at some worms to see how they'd react. The doodles the children made are really charming.

Show threadNoli timere34m ago
@HeliaXyana @simonzerafa 😆