Cool It!

The bees are dropping like flies--in swimming pools all over northern California during this triple-digit heat wave.

Honey bees collect water to aircondition their hive. They sip from bird baths, dripping faucets, water-splashed plants and even wet laundry hanging on the line.  They return to their colony where they release droplets of water.  The buzz of hundreds of wings fanning the hive sounds like hundreds of super-charged fans or a ramped-up swamp cooler.

Cool it!

"This hot weather is really hard on the bees," said bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey, manager of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis.

Unfortunately, bees searching for water can fall into swimming pools and perish.  Last weekend we netted about a dozen bees from our pool. All survived but one. Another looked like a goner. The water-soaked bee stood on the net--nothing but net--all night long. The next morning she raised her head, spun her wings and buzzed off. 

Another rescue.

Really, I'm not into bee-ing a "bee lifeguard" or admininistering "bee CPR."

Not yet.