Worker bees

The majority of worker bees are female and they seem to have various natural enemies. Apart from lizards, like chameleons and oriental garden lizards, I've observed them being attacked and killed by wasps and I've seen several of them fall victim to crab spiders, awaiting their prey on flowers that worker bees pollinate.

I've been observing them for about a year now, often coming within less than 5 cm when photographing them, and I've not once been stung by a worker bee during my photography sessions. The only time I did get attacked by bees dates back to the day and age when we did not yet have internet! I threw a stone at their nest to try and steal honey. That happened when I was about 5 years old!

I find it very relaxing and interesting to observe honey bees at work. It was only when I started to observe them closely that I noticed the pollen sacs around their legs (I thought it was only in cartoons where bees have those). My observations so far also taught me that other insects, like drone flies and flower moths, are not afraid of worker bees. If bees fly to the same flower they're on, the other insects stay put. Sometimes the flower is shared, but often bees would immediately fly to another flower when they notice something else around their own size is already occupying the flower.

To those having an interest in worker bees and wanting to photograph them, there's no need to worry about getting stung, as long as you stay clear of their nest!

Posted on May 24, 2017 05:27 PM by francoiswolfaardt