Are Bees Territorial about forage?

[roche]

We were watching some of the bees forage for water yesterday, and noticed what appeared to be fights breaking out at the water source. That triggered the question - Will bees defend good forage?

 

[tidymeup]

Funny you should mention this but whilst watching my bees today on a gause bush i saw something similar a couple of times. Some bees were being chased off certain flowers.

 

[richardbees]

Are you sure they were all bees?

There are various hoverflies/beeflies with territorial habits - they're best identified by a more jerky flying profile

 

[Skyhook]

I've seen one of my bees kick a bumble off a flower in the garden. I actually intervened with a twig to avoid bloodshed!

 

[Midland Beek]

We were watching some of the bees forage for water yesterday, and noticed what appeared to be fights breaking out at the water source. That triggered the question - Will bees defend good forage?

I guess the water source wasn't far from the hives and all the bees were actually doing is ... defending their hive. Early spring is life or death for some colonies. Robbing is not uncommon and this can put bees into full-on defensive mode. I found this out when I went to my apiary today.