Interesting about the bees on the salvia--
Ann, where did you pull that from?
Any idea what kind of bees they are?
Carpenter bees are known to bore through the side of flowers with a deep tubular corolla to get the nectar. Usually then other insects will use the same holes.
I have read about honey bees and some other bumblebees following suit, but I have never seen that--I figure it's too much work and when there are so many open flowers around they don't need to bother.

I have seen the honey bees come at the back side of open flowers, like this geranium, fairly often. They stick their tongue in between the petals, at the base. It's like they are checking the nectar flow and if it's good they will come around the front side for a thorough trip around the base.
If you look at this pic

you can see where she is putting her tongue--they go around the base nectaring that way. The pollen is up on the anthers and rubs off onto the bee.

With the salvia, the nectary is also in the base of the corolla. Very neato lever action method of pollination--as the pollinator pushes in to get the nectar the stamens move to deposit the pollen onto the pollinator, who then carries it to another hopefully receptive flower (stigma). Amistad is a hybrid with a very deep corolla and my guess is that SCButtercup either has carpenter bees or carpenter bee wannabees trying to cheat that mechanism.

Very cool, Dirt--that is a great photo!!

I concur..

@dirtdorphins
I saw two different types of bees and both appeared to be sucking from the top side of the flower base. Most of the bees were bumblebees and one was a honeybee. There was a man who had hives down the road so we do have honey bees here. I really should have taken pic of the weird bee behavior.

Well, it will probably happen again!
Get some pics

...meanwhile, can you see any holes in your flowers?
I remember reading somewhere, some lady was so mad because the bees kept cutting the flowers off of her Amistad and that really discouraged the hummers

@dirtdorphins
To answer you as to where I got that from..... who remembers? I watch shows, read things, years & places meld together & I don't recall which bees or insects do that but I do recall learning there are several kinds who actually do that behavior. See how observant you are figuring out what the bees are doing with that geranium? That's good detective work! And one more reason I find myself constantly in awe of nature's creatures. They are so amazingly efficient; saving time & energy whereas we humans seem to slog along wasting half our energy & more of our time.

Fly

To bee or not to be


Burrowing Bumble Bee -

Big bee -

Busy bee -

Big bee
Busy bee
Burrowing bumble bee

J that sounds like the start of a children's book!

Hey, check out the burrowing bumbler photo. There are lots of other flying things in there.Some flying ant types, a kind of tan/cream colored something (maybe moth or light bug type) on the left & above it is some kind of small bee? coming over the top of that group of blooms & then over to the right side is a small in flight bee (cute as can bee) and above it a bee face & below in flight bee is a bee butt. I see bee parts sprinkled hither & thither too.

Here is the bumblebee on the Amistad.

I keep watching this video and I'm like, "Is this fake or is this something a bee would do?" Someone on Facebook (where I first saw it) said the bee was actually giving a warning but I don't know enough about bee behavior to know how they act. Needless to say, I will not be trying this at home. http://unbelievablefactsblog.c...

jmorth said:Fly

I see a lot of those!

SCButtercup said:Here is the bumblebee on the Amistad.

Thanks for the thumbs but anyone know why the bee is perched on the flower in such an odd way? All the bees, honeybees bumblebees whatever, do this and now approach these flowers in the conventional way. And it is always covered with bees morning til night. What are they doing?

Good question, Judy! I'm not an expert on bee behavior, either, but often times when I go out in the morning, I'll see bees nestled into flowers like that. I get the idea they are resting and waiting for the sun to come up and warm them, and then they begin buzzing about. I notice the reverse at the end of the day just before dusk, when the sunlight is waning--the bees will nestle in and stop buzzing about. Do you see more of this behavior earlier or later in the day, too, or is it all day? Well, hopefully someone more knowledgeable than I am about bee behavior will chime in!!

mellielong said: http://unbelievablefactsblog.c...

I LOVE that!

Judy, I still think the tube of your flower looks very narrow and it's possible the bees cannot reach the nectar by conventional method ie going up the tube. Bees might be using their mandibles to get to the nectar. As I mentioned, some bees have shorter tongues than others.

But, I also agree with Catmint, I often see bees, especially bumble bees hanging out on flowers overnight. When I first observed this, I thought maybe there was something wrong but it is quite common for them to hang out on flowers, waiting for the temps to warm up. Bees need a certain warmth in temperature to be able to fly. Or, they really like those flowers.

I can't tell if your bee has hair on it's abdomen or not...if it has a bunch of dark hairs, it is a bumblebee...if it has smooth, hairless bands, it is a carpenter bee.

Either way,
the bee is getting the nectar from the base of the flower--that's where the nectar is.
You can see from your picture that if the bee had to crawl in to that point through the tube that it would be a darn tight fit for that size bee--and it would have to crawl all the way in to get there--IF it could even make it.
It is really not that strange for insects to chew a hole in the base of a flower, just big enough to get their tongue in, to get at the nectar. Sometimes, it's not just the easiest way to get it, it's the only way

Judy, check the blooms & see if there are teeny holes even if you have to use a magnifying glass.

wildflowers said: Or, they really like those flowers.

Little bee hugs for their favorite flowers.