Bee-ka-boo!

Its that time of year again!


The flowers are blooming,

and the bees are hard at work to collect all that pollen!

These bees pack their pollen into little balls and put it in these hollow reeds for their offspring to feed on.

This photo is of a bee habitat made by someone who wanted to attract bees to their garden! If you look really close you might be able to see some bee faces poking out.
Flowers produce two types of food that bees need: pollen and nectar. Nectar is the sweet sugary (mostly fructose) liquid that honey bees use to make honey. Nectar is an important source of carbohydrates for bees and it gives them the energy they need to fly around from flower to flower all day. Pollen on the other hand is the bees' main source of protein.  They feed the pollen to their young to help them grow. If you look closely at a bee foraging on a flower you can usually see the pollen stuck to hairs on their legs,

or underneath their abdomen.