Insects at Ridgefield

Honey Bees

One male drone and many female worker bees form in a swarm on a tree branch at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Bee Good

One of my favorite experiences at Ridgefield this spring was discovering a bee swarm early one morning near the parking lot at the observation blind. I had walked right by it at first, more cognizant of the existing bee colony in a tree cavity to the right, but discovered it on the way back to the car. I'm allergic to bees and generally keep my distance but the cool temperatures kept them pretty quiet.

This is the first time I've ever seen a swarm, one of the nice things about wildlife photography is that it encourages me to learn more when I see something I don't understand. A quick visit to the Wikipedia page on bee swarms revealed that the colony was reproducing by sending off a large group of workers to start a new colony, waiting patiently en masse while their best scouts agree upon a new location.

I initially thought the one large bee in the picture might be the queen, but further reading revealed this to be a drone, the male honey bee, and the rest the female workers. I also learned that males don't sting so I guess I'm only allergic to lady bees.

A bee swarm hangs together despite the heavy rain

The Weight of Water

After first finding the bee swarm one cool spring morning, I was both pleased and concerned to find them still there the next day on a warmer but wetter morning. Despite looking like a solid mass, the swarm was anchored by the bees on top to some mossy branches while the bees below were just hanging on to each other. The mass of bees must have gotten much heavier in the rain, but these stout workers up top held their ground. They also took the brunt of the rain, the bee in the upper left is covered with a drop of rain as large as her head.

I hope they survived the wet weather and were able to find a new colony before they starved to death. I wasn't able to get back to the refuge until the next week and by then they would have long since either established a new colony or died off. I didn't see any little bee carcasses on the ground, I took that as a hopeful sign.

I also need a new raincoat, mine has been shedding its waterproof lining and doesn't keep me so dry anymore. The camera and lens have some weather-sealing but I also draped them in a heavy old bath towel and stooped below it to take a picture like an old-time photographer.

A bee swarm hangs together at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Wrong Way Driver

I was taken with the dramatic black-and-yellow pattern of the bees hanging in formation, but even more so with the co-operation of the colony as bees constantly flew into and out of the living, wriggling mass. Even though they stepped all over one another, they all seemed to take it in stride and focused on their common goal. I like the wrong-way driver in the lower left corner who is upside down as she finds her way into the swarm.