What Do Bees Eat?

Honey bees feed on nectar and pollen obtained from flowering plants, as well as honey.

• This type of bee is native to Africa, Europe, and Western Asia.
• The honey bee likes habitats characterized by an abundance of flowering plants.
• Such habitats would be open wooded areas, gardens, and meadows.

Generally, masked bees feed on flower buds containing pollen.

• This type of bee gets its name from the yellow or white markings on its face.
• The masked bee inhabits urban areas, heath, forests, and woodlands.

Plasterer bees (Colletes daviesanus) visit flowers to feed on nectar and pollen.

• This type of bee has a wide distribution throughout the UK.
• This bee inhabits areas with flowers.

Hawaiian Yellow-faced (Hylaeus kuakea) feed on pollen and nectar, and so they rely on a diversity of flowering plants.

• This type of bee can be found on diverse habitats of the Hawaiian Islands.
• For instance, it can be found in shrublands, dry and wet forests, and along the coastlines.

Mining bees (Andrena agilissima) collect and feeds on pollen, especially from the Brassicaceae plant family.

• This type of bee is also referred to as the mining bee.
• It inhabits coastal grasslands and dunes.

Green Sweat Bee (aka Halictid Bee) gathers nectar and pollen from a vast range of flowers as long as their tongues can access.

• This type of bee can be found in wide distribution in Southern Canada.
• The green sweat bee occurs anywhere as long as there is a plentiful supply of pollen and nectar.
• Its nesting habitat is one with bare soil and where the ground is either sloping or flat.

Most bee species feed on pollen and nectar. A few notable examples, like the Trigona hypogea, are carnivorous.

• This bee’s hunting behavior is interesting. The Trigona hypogea have been noted by scientists to use the raiding technique to ambush its prey.
• The Trigona hypogea raid wasps’ nests within a short time and further emerges with wasps, pupa, larvae and their eggs. This bee has also been noted to carry toads‘ eggs back to their nests, possibly with the use of the raiding technique.

Most bees, including the honey bee, look for food during daylight hours, and this means they will tend to top eat during the day.

• Other bee species are nocturnal like the giant Indian carpenter bee forage and eat in the dark of the night.
• Other bee species are crepuscular.

How often bees eat depends on several factors.

• For instance, the Africanized honey bees feed more because when compared to their European counterparts.
• They forage more, and they require more protein necessary to produce more bees.
• The worker bees look for food from flowers, and they consume as much nectar as they can from them.
• Queen bees feed on the royal jelly as often to lay eggs. This extra eating also results in them becoming twice their size.

Bees have natural enemies, and examples of these predators include but are not limited to skunks, hive beetles, bears, raccoons, and opossums.

Bees have a vital role to play in the animal food chain. They provide food to organisms that feed on them in their natural environment.

• Bees are a food source to small and large mammals, reptiles, insects, and birds.
• Bees are excellent pollinators, and because of this, they help sustain humans and other animals.
• Further, bees, especially the predatory species, help maintain a healthy ecosystem by feeding on live organisms as well as eggs, thus preventing overpopulation.