Sleeping Bees

This story is not about honeybees. I have a thing for all pollinators, as they are doing the most important job in the world. None of the rest of us could do our work, without them doing theirs. So, my hope is to help people understand bee behavior and just maybe by gaining understanding of creatures that most people are terrified of, humans may "let 'em live, let 'em work".

Last summer I observed some of the cutest behavior I have ever witnessed. It all started that morning I got with a walk through the garden cutting flowers to brighten my desk space indoors. As I was arranging the flowers, I noticed a bee on the underside of the flower. There was a time that that would have scared me to death, and I would have run outside with the flower to get the bee outside as quickly as possible. But this time, through my learning of bee behavior, I wasn't scared. I observed the bee for hours, quickly realizing that it had slept under that flower the night before and was still dreaming. I watched and videoed to see how long it would take for the bee to get going. After a few hours she got ready to move about and so we took a journey back outside so that she would be able to forage and pollinate that day. I certainly let did not want to make her late for work. This was a wonderful way to start the day, getting my mind reeling about other bee behaviors I have yet to discover.

The story doesn't end there, though. After building a fire and enjoying the rise of the full moon, I started thinking about that sleeping bee again. I decided to take a peak on the undersides of the Mexican Sunflowers. I witnessed one of the cutest, most adorable scenes of my life. There were quite a few bees sleeping under the flowers. I can't blame them. The stems of these flowers are like velvet. If you would like to see video of this sweet bee behavior, it's posted onYouTube and Instagram under BlueBuzzBotanicals. You will see two different species of bees sleeping, a carpenter bee and bumble bee.

I have some research to do to see if this is normal behavior or if they just got caught up and couldn't make it back home. From time to time, I have seen honeybees that couldn't make it home, but they generally return to the hive at dusk each evening.

These creatures get such a bad reputation but learning things like this can soften the heart towards them.

Wishing them the sweetest of dreams on a flower pillow.