A Picnic with a Honey Bee

A Picnic with a Honey Bee

An uninvited but welcome guest

While walking beside my favorite pond, I could see ripples in the water about 15 feet from shore, but they seemed to never stop. Taking a closer look I expected to see a water spider spinning in circles as I’ve seen them do, but today it was not a spider. It looked like a honey bee.

Not knowing much about bugs, my instinct was telling me it wasn’t doing this for fun. I tossed a couple of pieces of long dried grass close to it, hoping it would climb on and be able to rest. It did not.

I looked around the shore and found a flat piece of wood and pushed it out on the water as hard as I could, hoping it would get close enough for the bee to get on. It slowed as it got closer, and the insect swam the few inches towards it, then it walked right on to the middle of the board, on a spot that was slanted like a ramp. You’d think it was made for it!

I felt instant relief. I assumed it did also. It sat there in the sun not moving at all. I figured it was resting and drying its wings. Bees can swim, but it is very hard for them to take off from the surface of water and they will also drown if they are in it too long.

I watched for about 5 minutes, but staring at one spot for a long time is hard for me, so my eyes were occasionally glancing around the familiar scenery. Quite often I see fish jumping, or otters, or other creatures in the water if I watch closely. I glanced back in its direction for the third time and it was gone. I smiled, and I thought how my simple task had probably saved its life. I felt good. It’s not every day you can save a life, even if it is a bee. But we now know how important bees are. No bees, no us.

I continued my walk around the pond and stopped at the bridge for a few minutes to watch the waterfall. It’s only about 10 feet high and 6 feet wide, but its flow was strong as it rushed into the winding creek below. It’s one of my favorite parts of this spot.

When I returned to the car I decided to stay a bit longer taking in the fresh air and peaceful view. I reminisced, where I’d spent a few years in my early teens; swimming and hanging out with friends. The raft we used to play on in the middle of the pond was now only a memory, same with the wooden dock, as well as both the small and high diving boards. Only the algae covered broken remains of the diving board’s cement base left any proof of their existence. Apparently years ago the Canada geese took over the beautiful spring fed water and slowly the people were pushed out and then forgotten.

Sitting with the car door open feeling the warm breeze coming off the water, I opened a dish of grapes. As I was enjoying the coolness of the sweet juicy fruit, something flew into the car and landed on the leg of my capris. Guess who? The honey bee! Well hello, I said, watching it crawl around on the material, so good to see you again. Would you like a grape?

I picked a large grape, bit it in half, and slurped the juice off of it, then set it down in front of my visitor. It immediately climbed up onto the wet surface and started licking the fresh juice. It seemed totally at peace on my lap, drinking in the sweetness I’d shared with it.

I picked up my cell phone from the seat beside me, slowly focused the camera about 8 inches away, making sure I had a great shot in case the clicking did send it on its way. It did not. I took over 20 photos as it walked around on the grape, back onto my leg, back onto the grape, licking the grape juice from my offering.

For almost half an hour we munched on grapes and I enjoyed the front row seat (no pun intended) to very special moments. What so many people usually freak out about and run screaming from… I had absolutely no fear and sat delighted with this beautiful creature so close to me.

I was blown away when I looked at the pictures I’d captured. The detail, the tongue… how it could go so deep into the fruit. It was amazing!

That visit was the best thing that happened to me that beautiful Sunday afternoon. I haven’t seen my family much or any friends for quite a while so I have felt really lonely. This little interlude lifted my spirits and made me realize how us and nature can live in harmony when we need to.

Eventually my new friend took off from the grape but surprisingly didn’t fly far. It landed on the ground beside the car. It walked around for few seconds, then, I slowly and carefully set its grape beside it. After one last walk around the surface and back to the ground, having dry wings and a full belly, it flew off out over the water until it was out of sight.

I’m no Dr. Doolittle, but I really do believe it was the same bee I rescued that had come back to say “thank you”.

Bees see primary colors: blue, green, and ultraviolet, and they can distinguish yellow, orange, blue-green, violet, and purple as combinations of their 3 primary colors. According to studies, blues are their favorites. Bees can’t see red. It shows only as dark shades like grey and black.

It’s also been proven bees recognize faces. So smile next time you see one, it might just remember you and drop by to say hello another day. :)