Bush Bees – Colorado
I live in the Denver, CO area and I have a bush in my front yard that has hundreds of bees hovering around it constantly. Is this because the bush and it’s small flowers are particularly appealing to bees ? Or … is there possibly a ground hive of some sort underneath the bush ? I have looked inside the bush and there is no above ground hive that I can see. I have 2 small children which play in the yard frequently. While I know bees aren’t aggressive there’s a good chance they’ll get stung accidentally because of the sheer quantity. How can I locate the burrow (if there is one) and how would I get them to leave without carnage ? Granite over the burrow as with a previous post? Thank you for your help

These are Honey Bees, most likely domestic bees from a nearby apiarist’s hives. Honey Bees will travel great distances to a likely food source, and that is probably the case here. Honey Bees do not nest underground, and wild hives are generally found in hollow trees and in little used areas of buildings, like crawl spaces. While we understand your fear of your young children being stung, you would be far better served to properly educate them that the Honey Bees are not aggressive, and they will not sting unless provoked. Here at What’s That Bug? we do not really feel qualified to give parenting advice, but we believe if you teach your children not to touch the Honey Bees or bother them, it will better protect your children in the future and they can avoid being stung when not under your immediate watchful eye.

sleeping bees, second attempt
Hi – We love your site, and have gotten lots of good information and identifications from it before. Thank you so much. I’m sending this again, because my embedded photo didn’t show up in my email for some reason. Thanks! Here’s the current question – we live in east of the San Francisco Bay area of California (but not as far east as the Central Valley). At a wildflower garden that I maintain at a school site, we’ve noticed bees congregating on the poppy seed heads about sundown. By dusk, there are several bees per stem, all faced head-down. They are non-aggressive – just seem to jockey for position. I think they are some sort of mason bee, but this behavior has me puzzled….any ideas? Can you confirm the identification in these pictures? thanks so much – keep up the good work!!
gardenchien"….
I’ll try to embed the photo, and a link to try to make sure it all goes through….

Hi gardenchien,
Your original letter was on the back burner from yesterday while we attempted to locate an image of an amazing fly we wanted to post from the day before. These are male Long-Horned Bees in the tribe Eucerini. We have posted several images in the past of this group roosting behavior known as Bachelor Parties. According to a posting on BugGuide, Doug Yanega indicates that the parties may contain multiple species. At any rate, exact species identification is way beyond our means.

Ferocious bee
Hi Bugman!
Today I was examining my squashes when I saw this strange-looking bee. It has long antennae like a long horned bee, but its body doesn’t really look like one. It was traveling from squash flower to squash flower, but instead of drinking the nectar, it looked like it just wanted to sit in them. The bee itself looks oddly moody and temperamental, and it definitely acted aggressive whenever I tried to take a close-up shot of it. After taking the pictures I sent you, I tried to stick my camera into the flower to get a really nice shot, and I know that any insect would have been a bit annoyed, but this one, when I wasn’t even very close, launched itself out of the flower and body slammed my lens! I was pretty shaken after that, and I haven’t been able to find the bee since. But I would really appreciate finding out what type of bee it is, since I’ve never seen one before (I live in the San Francisco Bay area). Thanks,
Brandon

Hi Brandon,
We believe this bee is in the genus Peponapis, known as Squash Bees. Squash Bees are Long Horned Bees in the tribe Eucerini, hence the resemblance.

Update: 906/29/2008)
Daniel:
Your identification of the squash bee is correct, and it is a male bee. Peponapis pruinosa is the likely species.
Eric Eaton

More clumps of mining bees
Hello folks!
Enjoy the website and it’s addicitive to say the least! Discovered these little critters clinging to our lavender, here in Eagle Rock, a northern suburb of Los Angeles right next to Pasadena. Someone else was asking why these — apparently mining bees, from what you told the other photographer from July 29, 2007– male bees were doing this. All I know, is that for that last month or so, (that would be mid-May to mid-June) these fellows flitter about the lavender during the day and then, when it cools down, they all gather back to this SAME STALK and huddle together for the night. Sometimes, the stalk is completely covered with them! They are there in the mornings when I go get the newspaper! Not sure what the behavior means, but I am glad to see them everyday! Best,
Brenda Rees
Eagle Rock CA

Hi Brenda,
We actually believe these are Long Horned Bees in the tribe Eucerini. There is a photo from Arizona posted to BugGuide, and the photographer says 100s of bees congregated on dried weeds at sunset. We have gotten reports of this nightime aggregating behavior in solitary Hymenopterans, both bees and wasps. We have seen them called Bachelor Parties since they are only males. We will contact Eric Eaton for verification that these are Long Horned Bees and see if he can provide a genus. Meanwhile, perhaps we will meet at Eagle Rock Italian Bakery some day. We love the semolina bread they only bake on Friday. We can also be spotted at the Blue Hen and the Coffee Table on occasion since we live nearby in Mt Washington. Thanks for the nice letter and wonderful image neighbor.