These are the longest days of the year, and it seems like we need every minute of them to squeeze in all the stuff that is happening. During the past two weeks I have watched a pair of blue-gray gnatcatchers building a lovely nest of lichens bound together with spider’s silk. I have watched Baltimore orioles feeding their young in hanging nests and discovered fire pinks blooming by the hundreds in my favorite oak woods.
Once she has found a suitable location, the queen starts building. Using wax secreted by glands in her abdomen, she builds a shallow cup on the floor of the nest cavity. She places a ball of pollen in the cup and then lays eggs on the pollen. Finally she roofs the egg cell with more wax, sealing the eggs into the spherical chamber. Meanwhile, she is also building a honey pot near the entrance to the nest where nectar gathered from flowers will be placed.
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There is some division of labor among bumblebees based on size. Very small workers are more likely to remain in the nest tending young and doing the housekeeping. The larger workers leave the nest to forage for pollen and nectar. However, the individual worker may move from one job to another during its life.
A bee swallows the nectar it collects, using some for its own energy needs but shunting much of it into a special honey stomach. The swallowed nectar is regurgitated in the nest along with enzymes that carry on the conversion from nectar to honey. That luscious stuff on your morning toast is actually bee spit.
The mated queens will start looking for underground locations to spend the winter. The males, this year’s workers, and the old queen will pass with the coming of frost. When spring returns, the mated queens will rise from their burrows and start the whole process again.
