I decided to shoot some photos of a honey bee hive that's 30-35' up in an old red (or scarlet) oak. The hive has two entrances, the main opening is about 12 feet above the secondary entrance. Three years ago I found a pair of raccoons sleeping in the hole, during a climb last year I checked the cavity from above, determined there were no raccoons in it and rappelled down to check out the opening. I landed with one foot on the edge of the hole and looked down to see my foot surrounded by honey bees. A quick swing and I was away from them, no problem.

This time I approached much more carefully, tied in both ends of my rope well above the hive and lowered down gradually until I was close enough to get some photos.

Base of the tree


Looking down, the hive is on the other side of the leader/limb on the right, next to the broken off stub just peeking out facing up. Rope over a limb at about 75', tree's a little over 90'.


There's the same dead stub now on the right, hive on the left


Closer in


Angle from above a little closer


I was shooting with a 100-400mm lens so I could keep a comfortable enough distance, around 10 feet. The tail of my rope was up and over a crotch and down the other side of the tree so it wouldn't agitate them. I moved slowly and watched them carefully to make sure they weren't getting excited after I made a move closer

Rest of the climb photos
-AJ

Nice work Moss! your a braver man then me, dealing with the bees is one thing, but I wouldn't want to tangle with that cute furry racoon.

So, on the topic having fun and Thirsty Summer Bees.
There must be a Bee hive somewhere in my back yard and the honey bees decided to adopt the bird bath to come and drink water all day. There are usually a few 20 to 50 or so drinking and cooling off and they are not aggressive when I approach to refill the water every day. I was wondering if I was to build them a home near the water fountain will they move in and take over the new bee hive or would they stay with their Queen wherever she has settled down? I would not mind having some friendly bees in my back yard specially since they are friendly enough and may even produce some honey on the side.
I need a new hobby - It's Too darned hot to go climbing trees here now!

Cool idea Desi. Basically what happens is when a hive is doing well and/or gets too crowded a new queen splits off from the hive and takes a swarm of workers with her looking for a good place to start a new hive. It would be pure luck if that happened and they ended up going to your empty hive. Best bet is check in with your local beekeepers association, I'm sure they'd help you get started.

It's great that you're providing a watering hole for your neighborhood honey bees, with the drought conditions they might not make it without your help.
-AJ

Cecilhemp mentioned in a PM that putting a float like a sponge (or flat piece of wood I imagine) would be very helpful to honey bees trying to get water from a bird bath or similar garden container. I see so many drowned insects and mammals in my brother's below ground swimming pool, it really needs little floating ramps to allow the small critters to escape the pool. Never mind seeing drowned horseflies and yellowjackets but too many beneficial insects get trapped by backyard water sources.
-AJ

The bees actually land on the edges of the bird bath and work from there. They also like to stay close to the petals of the flowers that fall from the flowering plants above the bird bath so they do not drown in it.
I will trythe sponge idea from Cecil that sounds lika good suggestion.

Yeah that would be cool if they were to home into the box. I better do some more research on line in the bee keepers forums to learn more - My father used to keep honeybees at home when we were growing up.

Here's some video I shot from the same climb:
Honey bee hive in a tree

-AJ

Nice video Moss. It appears the bees added another layer of excitement to your climb.

From experience every bee hive I have seen in a tree has been in some type of oak.

Do bees prefer oak trees for their hives? Or just nicely hollow trees? .....which in our area must include a lot of oaks.

I think it's the later, mature oaks usually have hollows.
-AJ