animals · bees · daily prompt · Flowers · Nature · Nature photography · Photography · Summer

Chasing Bees

Amy

How do you express your gratitude?

It’s really simple. This is what I do: I wake up, open my eyes and say, “I’m grateful for everything I have been given.”

At some point during the day – especially if it’s summer – I will venture outside and say it again. Then I will find happiness in the simple things, which aren’t that simple when you think about it.

Two days ago, I found myself kneeling in the dirt with my face in a coreopsis, watching and listening as a honeybee buzzed around my head to get the sweet nectar from the flowers. The bee had no pollen on her legs, so I knew she wasn’t collecting pollen, she was having a sweet drink. No, I am not scared of bees. Yes, I have been stung many times, but each of those times have been accidental, and not the fault of the bee. Last summer, I stepped on a bee and yes, the pain of the sting was excruciating, but all I could think of was that I carelessly and foolishly killed a honey bee. We need every honeybee we can get, and if I had looked down, I would’ve seen that I shouldn’t have put my foot there. I now make it a point to look down before I put my foot down, and try to walk away from the clover, not through it. I also now always wear shoes when walking through the grass, which I’d rather not do, as feeling the grass on my feet in the summer is one of the best sensations of the season. But, I don’t want to kill bees with my feet.

The point about the bees, other than we desperately need honeybees, so please don’t kill them – if they die, we die – is this: I am grateful for the bees. They are essential to our survival, and they are fascinating. They are not buzzing around outside trying to get us. As I’ve written before, most of the flying creatures I chase are actively trying to run away from me and my phone’s camera.

Yesterday, a worker bee tolerated my presence and allowed me to capture her on video.

After this encounter, I said hi to my wasp friends. More on that later. And no, nobody stung me.

🎶 “She works hard for the honey, so hard for the honey, so you better treat her right…”🎶
Unknown's avatar

Published by Amy

I love words. And animals. Photography and fedoras. Welcome. And stay awhile.

28 thoughts on “Chasing Bees”

    1. Cute! Hornets… bees on Redbull haha. In the spring, the Carpenter Bees search for a place to build a nest, which is usually near mailboxes and somewhere out near my sidewalk. Every spring, they try to fight me. 😂 Their stance reminds me of a boxer right before the start of the fight. The males don’t even have stingers, but they put up a nice show. I sigh and tell them I don’t want to fight them, I just want to go for a walk. 😊

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      2. Haha! Hornets are frisky, and I respect that about them. Wasps are grumpy and I respect them. When I peep in their little house, they look at me like I have no business there. They kind of glare at me. Lol!

        Liked by 1 person

  11. I wish there was a love button on here. 🙂 I was watching a bumble bee yesterday but I didn’t have my phone. I wanted to capture the beauty. The hummm-ing was great. I totally agree with you when I am beekeeping I feel bad when I get stung because I don’t want to bee their demise. The musical reference – I can testify to that truth! ❤

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thank you so much! The bumblebee semi coming and they run away. It is said that bees can recognize human faces. Have you found that to be true in your beekeeping? That sounds like an amazing experience. it makes me so sad if I calls a bee to die by being careless where I’m walking or where I’m putting my hand. ♥️

      Like

      Reply

  12. I think the bees know that we are there to help. As for recognizing my face I am not sure. We haven’t had many other human visitors at our hives. That would be an interesting experiment – to see if the bees react to the new human face. I am as careful as I can be. But in beekeeping unfortunately there are accidental sometimes unavoidable deaths. The key is to move slow, stay calm and always do your best.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Yes, that would definitely be an interesting experiment. I believe there are recent studies showing that bees recognize human faces, but I would have to Google that topic again because I can’t remember much about the studies. Great advice for anything, really: move slow, stay calm and always do your best.
      I have a couple of paper wasps taking a residence in my birdhouse – in truth, they have taken over that birdhouse for years – and every time I walk by and look to see what they are doing, they look at me like I am a weirdo and should mind my own business. They are not aggressive towards me, but I tend to think they recognize me as the weird lady who keeps looking at them every year. Haha.

      Like

      Reply

    1. Just remember, the bees are just doing their jobs and don’t mean any harm to us. as long as we don’t harm them, they won’t bother us.😊

      Like

      Reply

Leave a reply to SiriusSea Cancel reply