I Miscalculate With Bees

I went out this morning to put the day's coffee filter into the compost, and noticed that the morning glory, which has been feeding bees for weeks, had finally closed up shop--and there was this poor bumblebee staggering around, trying to get into the closed blooms. I felt bad for it--it's the end of the season for them, too, but there should be another week of sunny weather before it gets too cold at night for the bumblebees. So I went inside and got a small bowl, about a tablespoon of honey (which I don't really use for anything but shortbread at Christmas), and some orange Pellegrino, which is basically water, sugar and orange juice, and mixed it together. I figured the bees probably wouldn't eat out of a bowl, so I carefully dipped the mix onto the edges of the zinnias and some of the nasturtium leaves. It was a bit lumpy so I set the bowl down on the edge of the deck, figuring the chipmunk would clean up the extras. For about a half hour no one came by, but at 45 minutes there were a few bees and bumblebees, and a butterfly, on the zinnia, having a snack. Ten minutes later there were kind of a lot of bees, and then they went and got everyone out of bed at Sean's hive, and then there were Too Many Bees. The one or two bumblebees left, the butterfly left, the chipmunk stuck it's head out and said HOLY JEEBUS and fled around the side of the house. There must have been bees there from as far away as Mexico; and maybe the bees down from the hives two blocks down. It was Beepalooza. I could have repopulated Great Britain. I tried to get some swarm photos, but they disappear when they are in motion in the camera. But this second photo of the leftover honey in the bowl can give you an idea--the orange circles are the flying bees I could spot in the photo:


Picture the bees that dense on the nasturtiums, the zinnia, the walkway and the catmint on the side of the path. I had thought of mowing today but I think I will wait until dusk, when the bees go to bed.
You know how they say you should not feed wildlife? They were not wrong. Though I do sometimes throw old nuts to the squirrels--but at least they are mammals and don't fly.

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    1. Haha no way--I would do bumblebees, that live in very small colonies and don't sting after midsummer, but not the honeybees. They just get too bee too much :D

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