I have found many bees visiting dandelions, and you can tell if they have by the bright orange pollen they carry back from them. They don't stay long, and it appears the flowers only produce nectar for a short period during the day. Bees all over them mid morning, none later.
And they will ignore dandelions if there is anything else around. My friend has been watching his (he's a southern boy, relocated a couple years ago to indiana) and wondered why they were completely ignoring a couple acres of white dutch clover. Black locust is in bloom, and they won't even inspect anything else so long as it is. Fabulous stuff, black locust nectar -- copious amounts, high sugar content, and widely available around here.
Down south the bees tend to miss the black locust flow (or the trees don't make as much nectar, perhaps) as they don't do much with it.
Peter
And they will ignore dandelions if there is anything else around. My friend has been watching his (he's a southern boy, relocated a couple years ago to indiana) and wondered why they were completely ignoring a couple acres of white dutch clover. Black locust is in bloom, and they won't even inspect anything else so long as it is. Fabulous stuff, black locust nectar -- copious amounts, high sugar content, and widely available around here.
Down south the bees tend to miss the black locust flow (or the trees don't make as much nectar, perhaps) as they don't do much with it.
Peter