what is is that the birds and the bees like (besides that)

September 7, 2024 8:20 AM

A neighbor puts out huge quantities of birdseed on their fire escape, mostly feeding pigeons and occasional doves. Today I’m watching a steady stream of bees visiting the fire escape and zooming off in the same direction. I don’t think bees are interested in millet or sunflower seeds, so I’m curious what might be in a birdseed mix that they think worth collecting.

It’s not possible for me to ask the neighbor directly.

posted by moonmilk to Home & Garden (8 answers total)

Are you sure they're bees (fuzzy, brownish-yellow, like flowers) and not hornets (shiny, bright yellow stripes, buzz around you menacingly)? This is the time of year that hornets are trying to store food for the winter, and they're looking for protein, so there may be something in the seed that 'smells' like good food for the winter. If the neighbor is putting out suet, the hornets could be attracted to that.
posted by AzraelBrown at 8:52 AM on September 7 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: It's too far away for me to see whether they are bees or hornets, so it could be hornets! Are hornets social, so you'd have large numbers of them doing the same thing and going the same direction?
posted by moonmilk at 8:56 AM on September 7

Any chance there's a hummingbird feeder out there?
posted by eraserbones at 9:05 AM on September 7

Response by poster: No hummingbird feeder!
posted by moonmilk at 9:38 AM on September 7

You could be seeing yellowjackets, which are social and sometimes eyewateringly so.

Not sure I see any type of wasp going for the seed itself (not saying it's impossible either), so you still have the question of what their attraction is. Other food, a water source, material to chew into nest paper, ...

Plot twist: could it be that their nest is what's at the fire escape?
posted by away for regrooving at 10:00 AM on September 7 [2 favorites]

Yes, hornets are also social and can build large nests. I'll never forget the one I encountered in a tree trunk when I was a kid -- that thing was a condo tower! Here's a guide to social wasps, and here's a fun guide to yellow stripey things. As someone who has had a deep fear of wasps my whole life, I have been relieved to learn later in life that most wasps are not aggressive at all, and bees are practically harmless. Yellow jackets though, they are a**holes.

Back to the original question, see hornet seed dispersal.
posted by intermod at 11:52 AM on September 7 [2 favorites]

Bees do go for the seed dust and pollen on bird seed, but usually in spring before there are other good sources of pollen available. It could certainly be bees.
posted by evilmomlady at 1:27 PM on September 7 [1 favorite]

I wonder if they're leaving bits of fruit out for the birds-- berries and such? That could attract bees or wasps.
posted by Pallas Athena at 6:21 AM on September 9