Bee lining question for our friends Down Under

[Hoot Owl Lane Bees]

I have a question for my fellow beekeepers down under or any one who may know.
I am planning or tracking down several wild hives in my area of Missouri USA. (hundreds of acres of forest)
I was talking with a fellow bee keeper at our club about my plans and he told me about something he saw in a move.
Apparently the Abarignies attach a string with a feather to a harvester bee so they can see it better when tracking them back to the wild hive.
Does anyone have any links or more info about this?
(Is this true?)

Jim

[jayoung21]

Im not sure about the Aborigines but I had a similar idea as well. take a strip of bright colored tissue paper, (like the kind you use for gift bags). Cut into a thin strip and glued to the bee's thorax like marking a queen. Would make them a lot easier to find while flying and you could see them for a much longer distance. I may have to try that this spring.

[Michael Palmer]

Gosh, just dust them with a bit of flour.

[dnichols]

Last summer I performed a combine using some newspaper. Near the end of the day I was in the yard and Something caught my eye. It was a bee carrying a strip of paper about 4" long. It was crazy! Looked like a plane carrying a banner. She kept climbing and climbing until she disappeared. Where was she taking the paper? :-)

I can see how a bee with colored tissue paper would work.

[RayMarler]

The birds and the bees are in cahoots, helping each other out. The bee was taking the bird some nesting material... in gratitude for not being birdie breakfast the morning before, on the dandelion bloom next door.

[Hoot Owl Lane Bees]

Michael
We tried that last year. The hills here in the Ozark's make it hard to follow them. If I could hook a red string to them I could use a spotting scope to see from one hill to the next. The ones around my house are 1/2 - 3/4 of a mile away.

Jim