The Behaviour of Honeybees Visiting Flowers of Fruit Trees

Abstract

Foraging bees were watched on apple, apricot, peach, pear, plum and sweet cherry flowers. During a single flower visit a bee either approached the nectary from the top of the stamens, sometimes collecting pollen in the process, or scrabbled over the anthers and gathered pollen only, or, far less often, did both. Bees also obtained nectar from apple flowers by inserting their tongues between the filaments of the stamens from the side, often without touching the anthers; the proportion of nectar-gatherers that visited the flowers in this way varied with the flexibility, height and thickness of the filaments of the variety concerned. During a single trip or part of a trip most bees kept to one type of behavior, but some collected pollen only on some flower visits, and nectar, with or without pollen, on others. The proportions of the different types of flower visits varied from day to day and at different times on the same day. Pollen, was sometimes collected when little or no nectar was collected, and on two occasions when the flowers concerned were nearly denuded of pollen, the majority of bees collected nectar only. Except on pears, pollen-gatherers spent less time per flower and visited more flowers per tree than nectar-gatherers. On unfavourable days bees spent longer per flower and visited fewer flowers per tree. Bees probably visited two or more trees per trip and tended to change to trees nearest to those on which they started working. More bees foraged on the sunny than on the shady sides of trees.