Honey bees are on the menu today!

[Paulines7]

Two or three weeks ago I posted about the Great tits that had nested in a box sitting on the wall just outside my lounge window.

The youngsters hatched about ten days ago and I often use binoculars to look at the adults entering the nest box so I can determine what type of food they are taking in. 

Mainly it seems to be caterpillars, beetles or worms but today, on two separate occasions, the bird entered the nest box with a honeybee in its beak!  I didn't know they ate bees and wonder how the youngsters fare having the sting and venom shoved down their throats.   :o

[Paulines7]

[Robert_Brenchley]

They cope extremely well. I used to get them nesting in a bit of pipe on the allotment, until I had to move it. and they were after the bees all the time. Like the wasps, they used to take the crawlers, old foragers which can no longer fly, off the ground round the hive. I image the bee's well dead once it's had a good chewing, though theoretically it could still sting. I was once stung by a sting embedded in my trousers, two days after I'd last handled bees. On the other hand, old bees have often used up all or most of their poison.

[goodlife]

I've had sparrows sitting on landing board early in the morning...waiting bees to come out..and as they come to 'sniff' the morning air ..well they've been picked and taken away..one by one.. ::)..clever little buggers...

[Paulines7]

The youngsters left the nest this morning.  I don't know how many there were because when I got up at 8am there was only one left looking out of the nestbox. 

I grabbed my camera and after ten minutes it flew out straight into the patio door.  It survived unhurt though and then flew into a nearby rose bush.

The parents soon found it and encouraged it away from the house.  The adults returned to the box with food in their mouth, looked briefly in the hole and then flew away into the trees.  I realised then that there were no more in the box and how lucky I had been to see the last one fledging. 

[calendula]

perhaps they are very wise birds and are picking up the masses of unwanted drones - they don't sting  8)

[Jeannine]

Priceless pictures, thank you, how lucky you were XX Jeannine

[Robert_Brenchley]

perhaps they are very wise birds and are picking up the masses of unwanted drones - they don't sting  8)

I've watched them picking bees off the ground loads of times, and you don't get many crawling drones at this time of year. It's definitely workers they're taking. Lots of things eat bees, and they don't seem to get stung, apart from the large mammals which tear colonies apart rather than taking individual bees.