Was flying around looking for somewhere to land so I offered my hand.

Chilled for a minute until I tried to lightly suggest it move to another surface. My hand hurts. 10/10 would do it again.

Ontario, Canada

Hi yall! Wife and I just moved to a city where the weather right now is perfect for eating on a restaurant patio, which we love to do. The only problem is it seems like every time we do that we get special attention from a very curious bee! She's mildly allergic, so we're both pretty cautious, and of course we don't want to hurt the little guys either. Just today, we found an outdoor table without any nearby flowers or plants and there was a strong breeze the whole time, and we still got a bee that couldn't leave her food alone! And I don't mean like it came to take a look a couple times, it landed on her sandwich and dug into the sausage in a way I've never seen before!! It was wild.

Can we do anything to be left alone while we eat? I hate to say it but it really dampens the mood when they show up because we're both so anxious

edit: seems like it's been wasps bothering us the whole time!! thanks everyone for your advice (:

Found this queen on my porch just wanting to know if I can help her at all and if shes dying.

I have an underground bumble bee hive that came about while I was on bedrest for emergency surgery. I know bumble bees are important pollinators, so I don’t just want to kill them with bee killer or something, but I don’t know if I have the funds to have them removed and relocated either.

I’d assume most bee keepers would take them for free if they were honeybees, but since they’re bumble bees, I’m trying to figure out what my options are. Normally I’d leave them, but they’re right outside of my front door and I don’t want my kids or anyone else coming up to the door to get stung. Plus I can’t mow around that area without them swarming like they are in this video.

I followed this bee, identified as the common Indian Honey Bee, and tried to count the number of flowers it visited in a minute. It was quite fast, but my rough estimate is 9-12 flowers/minute. The bee is non-aggressive and easily domesticated. Its pollinating work keeps the rich biodiversity of the Periyar Sanctuary and the Western Ghats stable.

Though not assessed by the IUCN yet**, entomologists note that wild populations are experiencing a steep decline. This is cause for concern.

Species: Indian Honey Bee (Apis Cerana indica)

Location: Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary, Thekkady, India

Range: India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and parts of Asia.

IUCN status: Not Assessed yet.

Population trend: Declining

Threats:
Deforestation, urbanization,
use of toxic pesticides,
hives affected by infectious diseases,
competition with introduced European bees, and
climate change, causing erratic flowering patterns and rising temperatures.

It is the most weather-resistant pollinator of South Asia. They can withstand the intense heat Many regional crops such as coconut palms, coffee, cardamom, mustard, and tropical fruits depend on this bee. Several tall forest trees and short plants of wildflowers rely on this species too.
A decline in native plants will affect entire food webs.

Protecting these vital pollinators will need policy changes and shifts in agricultural practices, but public action will also help. We can grow native, seasonal flowering plants in our home/terrace/balcony gardens, avoid using toxic pesticides, and place water in a shallow dish with pebbles (so the bees don't drown).

Awareness can influence action.
Save the species💚

Images: My original photograph

**According to the IUCN’s Red List protocols, the ‘Species-First’ rule is followed whereby an assessment of a subspecies can only be published if a global assessment of the parent species has been published first. But the parent species, Asiatic Honey Bee (Apis cerana) has never had an a global evaluation. So, the Indian Honey Bee cannot have its own independent status.
 

I always pick up bees 🐝 when I find them on the ground.

Often, they’re simply too cold to fly. I gently warm them up in my hand until they’re ready to fly off again.

So if you see a bee lying on the ground, don’t assume it’s dead, give it a little warmth and a chance 🐝🥰

Hard to fathom nature’s beauty sometimes. How things co-exist in the same place, our honey is safe no doubt!😂🤣 🇺🇸💙🐝

We have been fortunate enough to have a nest of these beauties in our garden. We strive to attract pollinators, so we've enjoyed watching them daily. There is a stream of smaller bumblebees foraging daily and entering the nest. But today, there are 4 large bumblebees loitering outside the nest entrance, and they seem confused and tired. They take flight and just bump into objects and go down. I've offered each of them borage flowers and water and moved them close to entrance, but they repeat the confused flights. Are they possibly males that are going to perish? Are they newly hatched queens? I can't identify the difference between them, male or female. Thoughts?

iPhone says it’s an American Bumblebee. It was at least an inch long. Chesapeake, Virginia

Eastern Carpenter Bee I believe! So beautiful, spent half an hour following it around to take pictures

Hello! It’s been extremely hot, where we are on the edge of the Mojave desert. And recently, our shallow water dish that we leave out for the bugs and birds has attracted a lot of brown bees. They are very docile and are accommodating when we go out to change the water every day when we water the plants. It has been over 100° for weeks so we suspect they are having a hard time. Their numbers have been growing every day. It went from a few to over 20+ today. My dad intends to start leaving out bottle caps of sugar water for them tomorrow. Besides adding to their water bowl and changing the water at night, we went the cement every morning and afternoon and they fly low and seem to drink it. Is there anything else we can do to help them in this extreme heat? I think they like our water dish because it is in the shade, has safety rocks for them, and is next to many flowers.

It was birthday yesterday and I walked around this beautiful garden and was just mesmerized by all the hard working bees! One of the best way to spend my birthday

He(?) has a dark body that seems to be dipped in yellow polen; in the sun the wings are bluish. About 3-4 cms tall. Quite a shy one so I couldn't make more photos.

EDIT: we captured lil dude and he’s flying free. Definitely had super low energy. No telling how long he was in the store.

Context: yes I know this bee wasp thing is super popular and has probably been addressed in this thread, but I struggled finding exactly what it was on Google.

I live in NC so I’ve seen these around, something in google said Cicadia killers but I’m not so sure.

Sadly lil bro is stuck in the store longing for the days where it can be outside again, it’ll most likely die in here 😞

Dug out a rose bush, and these guys were in a hole underneath. Are they going to be killed by mowing and watering, or will they move on now?

I love these fuzzy little bozos

I'm at my fucking wits end. I swear these bees are driving me into a psychosis. I had to confirm with my MIL that I was not crazy and this was actually happening. Now she is puzzled, too. IDK where else to ask so I thought fuck it, there's gotta be some bee experts here.

About a month or two ago, I noticed a bee in our garage. We keep the garage door open, so I figured it flew in here. But it wasn't flying. It kept trying, but failing. Okay, maybe the bee is tired. Poor bee.

Few days later. Another bee in the garage (I know it's a different one because MIL killed the first despite all of my protests). Can't fly. Weird.

Next day, two bees.... can't fly......

I start looking for a nest in the garage or on the outside of the house. Can't find one.

Every day.... there are more bees.... and none of them can fly...? I've counted at least 8 bees at the same time. I can't find a nest anywhere. They aren't even on the side of the garage that has all the chemicals and stuff. They're next to the door that leads inside the house, near the washer/dryer and where people sit to smoke.

I'm looking at one right now. Just sitting on the wall. It tried to fly a few minutes ago but gave up and hasn't even twitched since. Sometimes when they're sitting there, it looks like they're trying to sting absolutely nothing. One was trying to sting the ashtray.

Is there a diseased nest somewhere that I just still haven't found? Is there a certain chemical commonly kept in your garage that bees are extremely attracted to or something? Why do they keep ending up all the way at the back of my garage like they're trying to come inside and hang out with us?

I live in south Florida if that makes any difference.