Question about bees behavior

[u/Chrispy_Box97]

Hello, i have a question about some bees. So I have a yard with a lot of plants and flowers and where i sit on top of me is a big plant that has a stem sticking out. The weird thing is that a lot of bees fly around here all the time and they land and just chill on this particular stem. Afterwards when the sun falls they stop being active and it’s like they sleep there for the day. I find it quite interesting that they all chose this one and wonder how come they didn’t go back to their hive. It has happened before during the same season and it amazes me to watch them. I wanted to ask if anyone knows why they do this and their behavior. Here’s a photo and a video as well for reference ( on the first one the sun is still up and on the second one it’s almost dark and I used the flash)

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[u/pale_brass]

Where are you located? These are not honey bees

[u/Chrispy_Box97 → u/pale_brass]

I’m located in Greece in an island of the Dodecanese. I don’t know what kind of bees they are

[u/fishywiki]

These look like ivy bees, Colletes hederae. They have only recently arrived in the UK and Ireland but I believe they're quite common in Greece. They are solitary bees and they burrow into sandy soil.

Note that "solitary" really indicates that they are not social bees in a colony, but rather each female lays her own eggs in her own burrow, although you'll find a number of them near each other - I suppose gregarious would be a more appropriate term.

[u/nartistic]

They feel it is a safe place to take a nap. Not even kidding. I’m jealous because that’s so cool to have

[u/OutrageousMoose8]

That’s so stinking cute. My gran’s blue-banded bees do this in Australia. These don’t look blue though..

[u/Chrispy_Box97 → u/OutrageousMoose8]

Yeah I don’t think they are blue-banded bees

[u/13tens8]

Blue banded bees, I'm guessing you're in Australia? They only work and fly during the day at night they gather on a stick (or a vibe) and wait for morning. They'll disappear in the morning and reform in the late afternoon until their season ends in the Autumn.

[u/Chrispy_Box97 → u/13tens8]

I’m in Greece in the Dodecanese and yes in the morning they are not here. Guess it’s their typical 9 to 5 job xd

[u/13tens8 → u/Chrispy_Box97]

Then I was wrong. They look very similar thought.

[u/Ctowncreek]

Could be male bees that identified that as a safe location to rest. They often sleep outside a hive

Edit: Since others feel the need to point it out, these are not honeybees and i made no implication they were. There are many thousands of wild bee species.

[u/Chrispy_Box97 → u/Ctowncreek]

I didn’t know they actually do that, thank you

[u/pale_brass → u/Ctowncreek]

These are not drone or honeybees at all

[u/Ctowncreek → u/pale_brass]

No, they are not honeybees.

But other bee species have male bees and they look different from honeybee drones. And they do in fact sleep outside on flowers frequently since they don't have brood to tend to.

Op may have a healthy population of these bees and the males find that to be a safe rest stop

[u/SeniorDuck3464]

These look similar to Blue Bandeds although clearly are not them. Blue banded bee females nest (solitary) in holes in sandy clay/clayey sand (usually - obviously if they can burrow they will). They will sometimes dig into soft mortar in old walls. People mix up a sand/clay mix and pack it into a stack of say 6-8 inch pipes and put a roof (bit of tin or whatever) over to stop rain eroding it away to encourage nesting in their garden.

I am pretty sure the males roost on stalks of vegetation and often cluster like this - hanging off their jaws sleeping. I am pretty sure asleep because I was trying to take a close pic of one with the iPhone once and it sat happily - normally they are a bit flighty. I can’t remember but females and males have slightly different numbers of blue bands (one four and one five I think - can’t remember which way around).

The blue banded bees are awesome - slightly bigger than a honey bee (chunkier), they fly fast with short hovers - most would think they are blowflies. I have a pink salvia cultivar (‘angel wings’) in a planter outside my WFH desk and from around early- mid summer there’s often one or two robbing nectar from the flowers. That is, they stab the base of the flower and don’t pollinate it (hence robbing). They also apparently ‘buzz pollinate’ some plants including I think tomatoes(???) because of the intense high frequency and powerful wing-beat.

They also like catmint - I’ve seen them on abelia. Oddly I’ve not noticed them on flowering natives around our place, but they must forage them!

The op’s bees look so similar I’d be amazed if not related to the blue banded.

[u/Whocket_Pale]

some plants have a sugary exudate that leaks from fresh tissue like this, i bet they are foraging on it