Aggressiveness of foraging AHB

[applebwoi]

A friend of mine was hiking in Big Bend last week taking pictures of bees. On one particular plant she said that the foraging bees seemed much more aggressive than normal (she wasn't stung but just buzzed and head butted), and she wondered if they might have been AHB. I told her that Africanized bees were almost certainly in the Big Bend area but that I didn't think that they were aggressive when foraging but only when someone got too close to their hive. Was that correct? Would a foraging AHB be any more aggressive than any other foraging honey bee?

[Joseph Clemens]

I may be imagining it, but I've observed similar events. It is difficult to determine if the bees exhibiting the questionable behavior are AHB or if they are of other ancestral origins.

[tecumseh]

I have little doubt that africanized bees might inhabit the park and the area would be a difficult landscape to determine just where a hives's nesting site might be located. Could your friends problem be associated with the camera itself? I have been told that the lense can be highly alarming to the bees and it has also been suggested that the electronics in the newer camera may also be of some concern.

it has been some time since I traveled to Big Bend but there use to be what appeared to be a commercial beekeeping site out beyond Lahitas along the river road.

[Barry]

I didn't think that they were aggressive when foraging but only when someone got too close to their hive.

She may have walked very close to a colony without even knowing it.

[DiverDog]

I was stung last week from one of my bees. I was about 10' in front of the hive and just snapped 2 pics, on the third i was stung on the back of my hand. I couldnt believe it being I have opened the lids and even peaked in the innercovers without any sign of agression. I have also sat for hours combined in a chair just watching them come and go with no problems. I blamed it on the camera but never heard of it b4, and figured it was a fluke. Maybe I was on to something. I figured that there are so many pictures of hives and bees, that I would have read about it by now if it were true.

[Michael Bush]

Back when I had some Texas bees they would hunt me down and sting me days after working them hundreds of yards from the hives. They were, I presume, foragers who happened upon me.

[Rebel Rose]

I used to live in Texas and rode horses on a regular basis in Big Bend area. Many times I had more than a few forager bees ram into the horses and sometimes a few of the riders got a sting or two....if anyone got stung, we 'got out of Dodge' quickly, as bees seemed to come out of nowhere and after us. I think the area would be full of AHB colonies by now.

Brenda

[Jer733]

My two cents are that she was a little close to the hive.

On the electronics issue, I often use my cell phone on speaker when working on a cut-out and even the nice calm bees sure don't care for the speaker to be turned on.

Maybe the electronics in either, vibrations from the speaker diaphragm or flash from the camera...


Jer