Honeybee Graveyard

I spent some time poking around in the debris left under the Old Hive and Split today. It made me think of a honeybee graveyard. There were tons of pollen loads--mostly in shades of yellow, but I also found some gray, lavender and red pollen. The pollen was accompanied by countless dead mites, lots of bee poop, bee legs, dried bits of plants, cappings from cells, and the remains of some kind of cocoon. The pollen will be interesting to look at under magnification. 

Pollen loads from under the split.

There were some bees poking around as well. Most just took a cursory look, but a couple wandered around with their proboscis' out, and one looked like it was trying to collect the pollen loads. Others seemed to be wondering where their homes had gone.