Drone Bees in Cemetary

[Apis_M_Rescue]

Went Sunday to clean & pay respects to the ol' man. It was round 2pm-3pm upper 70's beautiful spring day, & was hearing this present buzzing noise I couldn't localize. Looked up & sun revealed comet like group of insects, weaving from higher altitude of 20ft to almost ground level. Then seen a drone honey bee fall outta the comet & land on grass. Lost sight of this comet but this ever present droning buzz still in atmosphere. 2 kids came by as I musta looked odd walking round chasing these comets & they confirmed hearing the buzzing noise. No I'm just bee crazy,lol.  :bee:

Walking round the open meadow surrounded by large pine & elm & assorted trees, again seen this comet of bees that came again near ground by a head stone & banked left & up & outta sight. Kept trying to place this comet configuration of bees & remember seeing in Eva Cranes book, "The World History of Beekeeping".

Has any one seen this before? I heard of the Drone Congregation Area (DCA) having thousands of bees but couldn't see but what seemed 100 or so bees in this comet. Was that a mating flight I witnessed? Couldn't pick out much in that comet as was going at good clip of speed. Wish I had my camera but w/ the high speed probably wouldn't have picked up much. Was amazing behavior witnessed non the less & a first for me. When I left the ol' mans stone could still hear that buzzing noise.

[Intheswamp]

I know this is an older message but it is interesting.  I have been wondering about the drone congregation area in regards to how the virgin queen knows where to go.  This didn't help me in that, but it's interesting non-the-less.

Regarding the drone that fell to the ground...did he have a smile on his face and smoking a cigarette?

Ed

[RayMarler]

Yes, you were witnessing a queen mating flight. I've never seen one myself but you are describing what I've read, and heard from others who've witnessed one themselves.

[Apis_M_Rescue]

I know this is an older message but it is interesting.  I have been wondering about the drone congregation area in regards to how the virgin queen knows where to go.  This didn't help me in that, but it's interesting non-the-less.

Regarding the drone that fell to the ground...did he have a smile on his face and smoking a cigarette?

Ed

No smoking section in cemetery but smile was evident :-D

Ed thats one question among many I've had. Why do the drones congregate in certain areas, do the virgin queens sense their way to DCA by drones vibrations from all that loud buzzing & by their smell? An unchanging cemetery w/ no major development seems a great place for matings. I went back again & heard the same droning buzz sound in area of cemetery but didn't have time to observe anything. Maybe a hive is in one of the trees or the drones have established DCA for the year? Thats another question do DCA's carry over year after year?

Cheers, Apis M

[Apis_M_Rescue]

Yes, you were witnessing a queen mating flight. I've never seen one myself but you are describing what I've read, and heard from others who've witnessed one themselves.

Ray where were these sightings from other observers? Location? Time of day? Conditions?

This is my first time sighting drone comet, but I might of stumbled on a permanent DCA & honey bee mating area. Not sure how long a DCA stays around or if it is just where the drones all decide to hang out day to day? Last Sunday went & seemed like that droning buzz noise was in trees or going  between meadow grass areas between the trees but had no time to witness anything this time.

Where did you read the accounts by the way? Thanks for chiming in on a little observed fast paced & extremely intriguing event.

Cheers, Apis M Rescue

[Intheswamp]

I wonder how the wholesale clear-cutting of our hardwood forests here in south Alabama has affected the DCA.  I would imagine that many feral colonies were destroyed along with the bee trees that they lived in and thus populations of drones decreased.  This probably cut into the number of DCA's in the area due to population drops and local habitat being gone.  Interesting thought about the cemeteries being unchanging landmarks for the drones to congregate around.  My mentor is a little over 4 miles from me.  I figure my drones may very well use the DCA that his drones use.  Being as I'm getting my bees from him I'll probably end up bringing in a couple of queens from elsewhere for the 2013 season to help get some new"blood" in the area.

Ed

[Michael Bush]

If you saw a comet there are thousands, you just saw the hundreds close to the queen.  Now you know a local DCA.

[indypartridge]

Thats another question do DCA's carry over year after year?

Yes. DCAs are typically delineated by some kind of geographical feature such as a line of trees, a ridge or hill, and exist in the same place over the years (until a new subdivision goes in). An unchanging cemetery would be a perfect spot.

[RayMarler]

I've read about the comets and dca's from some older out of copyright literature. I don't remember which author for sure, it may have been C.C. Miller or G.M. Doolittle, those are two authors I've read a lot of, but there's been many others also.

Randy Oliver told me he seen comets at one of Ray Olivera's mating yards here in CA where there is a DCA.

[Intheswamp]

I have not seen a honeybee at my house in *years*.  Getting ready to get my hives I've been checking out bee favored plants.  I read where someone mentioned white crapemyrtle attracting bees better than the pinks, etc.,.we've got a lot of pinks and lavenders here at the house, but no whites (of course).  Anyhow, a friend has a nice little flower garden on the way to town with several white crapemyrtles in it.  I figured I could see if the bumbles were at least working them.  Well, surprise, surprise...honeybees were working it!!!  There's no *know* hive close by but what is interesting is there is an OLD cemetary directly across the road from the glower garden.  These were workers and naturally not drones on the crapemyrtles, but I just thought it was interesting that honeybees were in such close proximity to a cemetary...when they're seldom seen at other places around here.

Ed

[Apis_M_Rescue]

If you saw a comet there are thousands, you just saw the hundreds close to the queen.  Now you know a local DCA.

Thanks Michael. That comet must be quite spread out as seen what looked like a hundred, not thousands of drones. I'm gathering that & realize its the sound that cues one into the arrival to a DCA. This article reveals a somemore detail on the drones areas of congregation & their behaviors:

A Closer Look – Drone Congregation Areas

Viewing the area is more variable & filming, how?

[Michael Bush]

>Thanks Michael. That comet must be quite spread out as seen what looked like a hundred, not thousands of drones.

The comet chasing the queen is hundreds, but that indicates you're in a DCA with thousands but when the are spread out you don't see them.

[Jim Hughes]

I am a retired airplane inspector and 99.999% of the time, we used to troubleshoot items that often would NOT present any problems, but sometimes a complicated  and truly unique problem would take SEVERAL shifts, even SEVERAL DAYS to troubleshoot.  Replace this, replace that, retest, change configurations, replace something different, etc.  Nose vs grindstone.

More than once, after replacing a DOZEN components and having the problem PERSIST, we would scratch our heads.  I am being serious here, as modern airplanes have very sophisticated systems and nearly all of the important systems are interfaced.

Once in a blue moon, the problem would DISAPPEAR and we could NOT replicate it NO MATTER how hard we tried.  When this happened, it was referred to as "PFM."  Pure f______ magic.  Another more civil "anwer" was "GDA", or "gremlins departed area."

We would dutifully record the parts we replaced, the retests we ran, and get things signed off.

SO----it looks like the DCA you witnessed had some PFM involved.  I am convinced that mankind won't REALLY understand how the bees do their thing, and I am pefectly happy to simply watch!  (har har har)