scout bees at swarm trap 2023

From mid-February to early March, Atlanta's maximum temperatures were warmer than expected. On February 21st, the high temperature was 21°F above maximum normals (1991-2020).   

On March 7th, pollen counts soared to 3937 - outdoor surfaces were covered with yellow pollen (pine, oak, sweet gum, hackberry, and birch).    Walking the dog, I discovered bees (mining, carpenter, and European honey) visiting crabapple tree flowers on my street - thanks to Trees Atlanta.

I set 4 hanging swarm traps on 3 properties in my neighborhood, each with: 

• UV-reactive blue swarm trap entrance
• synthetically produced Nasonov pheromone

2 of these traps are on my property and conveniently located where I can watch the swarm trap entrance and the behavior of scout bees from a window. See the video and read page 62 of Honeybee Democracy describing scout bees.

So far, the traps did not attract a swarm - my swarm trap hopes rest with a return to more normal temperatures after this week of frigid spring weather.

dandelion, rosemary and native crabapple 2022

In my opinion, this spring attracted more bees to dandelion flowers than previous years. Thank you to my neighbors who do not spray herbicides.

Strong spring wind gusts made photographing bee foraging difficult and I consequently have not included bees visiting blooming ornamental cherry trees and eastern redbud.   What's left on my iPhone are a few lucky snaps of bees on native crabapple (thanks to Trees Atlanta) and rosemary flowers.

native crabapple and rosemary 2021

Thank you Trees Atlanta for planting pollinator friendly trees like:

• eastern redbud
• native crabapple

I was not going to include rosemary flowers, but iPhone 11 color saturation is fabulous.  This Mediterranean native shrub does well in Atlanta's zone 7 hardiness when located in a sunny location. 

Currently I can't find bees on dandelions and spiderwort flowers - is there an overabundance of honey bee forage?

Native Crabapple Tree Mar '18

Thanks to Trees Atlanta, a small native crabapple tree attracts the honey bee.  This species and eastern redbud were planted along the street over a year ago.  I took a few iPhone photos and the first photo turned out best.

At the MABA meeting, Geoffrey Williams of the Auburn Bee Lab was asking the question which wild flower species attract which species of native pollinators.    I have my own questions, which tree species are better at attracting honey bees, and the ultimate question of what location and tree species attract the honey bee best.    Trees Atlanta plants multiple trees of the same species side-by-side.  Turns out that the native crabapple tree with the best mid-day sun attracts the honey bee.

Native Crabapple thanks to Trees Atlanta

A few months ago, Trees Atlanta planted a large number of small trees in our neighborhood.  I quickly recognized the small Eastern Redbud tress, which consistently attract honey bees to their purple flowers.

Here are a few lucky iPhone photos of what appears to be a small Native Crabapple tree with honey bees visiting their flowers.