Undertaker Bees

We've been using the honey from a honeycomb that a friend gave us from a hive of wild bees that he found in the woods.  While we don't have a colony of bees that we can rob honey from, we do have bees.  You might recall that they live inside the column by the side entrance to our home.  They've lived there for the past 3 years and I would assume that they've filled the entire thing up with honeycomb.  Not exactly a hospitable entrance, I know.

They do a great job of pollinating the fruit trees and vegetables on our property and the surrounding area.  I read where bees will travel 1 to 5 miles in search for nectar. That's a lot of flying. Fortunately, right now, there are plenty of flowers nearby and they don't have to fly as far.

We notice a curious thing each morning that is worth mentioning.  If you look toward the base of the column around the potted plant, you'll notice some little black dots on the ground.

I'll zoom in a bit.  Those are bees!  Dead bees, to be precise.  Bees have segregation of duties in the colony and wouldn't you know it, there are bees whose sole role is to be undertakers or pall bearers. Obviously, bees die.  They work really hard and then they die - inside the hive.  There is limited space in a colony.  With lots of work going on and lots of bees moving in and out you can't have dead bees taking up valuable real estate within the colony.  

These undertaker bees will smell the dead bees and will go to work, carrying them out of the hive.  It is not a solemn, reverent event, though.  They drag them out of the hive (in our case the top of the column) and unceremoniously dump the carcasses out and they land at the base of the column.  Tricia comes out and sweeps them out of the way...

Or, as in the case I witnessed Saturday morning, and industrious Sparrow (see below) has figured out that he hit the mother lode - a cafeteria of sorts where an All You Can Eat Bee Buffet is going on.  There's no waste around here.  One man's (bee's) trash is another man's (bird's) treasure, you might say.

The Sparrow, consumed dead bees until he couldn't eat any more.  I'm not sure if he's going to tell his friends about his discovery or not, but if he continues to come back, Tricia's need for sweeping should be diminished somewhat.  Sweeping dead bees, that is.  The live oaks are dropping lots of tassels right now that still need to be swept or blown.