Can someone explain what’s going on with the bees? They act agro every September

[u/calmcakes]

Every time I go for a walk they are all over the ground and then hanging around me. I don’t wear anything with fragrance so it’s not a me problem. Just walked my dog and within a few feet I got stung on the arm minding my business. Does anyone know why the bees act different every late August/September

[u/Gimli-Painter]

Yellow jackets are more aggressive this time of year because their food sources are more scarce...

[u/mattgen88 → u/Gimli-Painter]

They also are eating fallen, fermented fruit. They're mean drunks

[u/calmcakes → u/mattgen88]

Is that real or a joke bc I have a fruit tree 😭😭

[u/handcraftedcandy → u/calmcakes]

Not a joke, they feed off fermented fruit that's fallen off trees and they're more aggressive. They are angry drunks lol

[u/calmcakes → u/handcraftedcandy]

Oh god I wish I knew this sooner. I just got this house and saw so many squirrels taking the fruit that I thought I would just leave them on the ground for the squirrels. Never again holy shit

[u/Appropriate-Brush772 → u/calmcakes]

You probably want to pick them up. If the squirrels want them they’ll pick them off the tree. As someone who’s had fruit trees in their yard, I can tell you they attract other things worse than yellow jackets. Leaving fruit on the ground will bring in the squirrels dirtier, less cute relatives

[u/mattgen88 → u/calmcakes]

Man those wasps are just celebrating the end of the year and are about die after the first frost. They're done for the year, the new, mated queen will go and hibernate, while the old queen, males, and them go and die.

[u/mr_potatoface → u/calmcakes]

Fall time is when people on reddit post pics of little animals passed out near fruit trees because they got too drunk on the fruit.

[u/guitarot → u/handcraftedcandy]

Yup! My crabapple tree finished producing apples. Now there’s rotting apples on the ground swarming with yellow jackets. My weirdo dog likes to catch and eat the yellow jackets. We call them “spicy sky raisins”.

[u/Bennington_Booyah → u/calmcakes]

It's real. Look at the fallen fruit and see the bees on it. They use the fruit as a still. I once stealth camped under a gnarly old apple tree and felt their fury several times that day.

[u/RasmusBeret → u/Gimli-Painter]

I feel bad for being a pissy with them at a brewery the other day. They’re just hangry.

[u/drgnfire867 → u/Gimli-Painter]

I ded ass ate hotpot at the park yesterday and I had yellow jackets ripping parts of my sliced beef off and flying off with it. It was crazy

[u/Gordonica]

those aren't bumble bees, those are wasps - yellow jackets. they are aggressive by nature and they love anything you are eating or drinking, perfumes, etc.

[u/calmcakes → u/Gordonica]

They’re honey bees that I’m seeing in EV

[u/PMichaelB89 → u/calmcakes]

Honey bees are docile. My guess is you're seeing yellow jackets, which are about the same size as honey bees but much more aggressive.

[u/calmcakes → u/PMichaelB89]

Okay I concede. I really thought they were honey bees bc I see them flying around flowers alot

[u/DrPhrawg → u/calmcakes]

many wasps are also important pollinators.

[u/Gordonica → u/DrPhrawg]

pollinators are not only honey bees

[u/SkepticJoker → u/Gordonica]

Right, they said “also”

[u/DrPhrawg → u/Gordonica]

even frogs

https://www.science.org/content/article/brazilian-frog-might-be-first-pollinating-amphibian-known-science

[u/iconocrastinaor → u/calmcakes]

If they're fuzzy, they're honey bees. If they have slick bodies with black and yellow stripes , they're yellow jackets.

[u/toepherallan → u/calmcakes]

It can be super hard to tell the difference between them and a yellow jacket at first honestly. Have to look at their head and see the mean looking black mandibles of the yellowjacket

[u/buffalofoodslut]

they’re not bees, they’re wasps.

Their social structure starts falling apart in September. More workers, less sugar in the nests, so they become very food motivated.

Ultimately, they’re just unemployed, unhoused wasps trying to get as much sugar before they die in the fall.

Honey Bees do the same thing, but they’re much kinder. They investigate sugary things, but they won’t hurt you. Never hurt a honey bee, please.

[u/calmcakes → u/buffalofoodslut]

I respect tf out of bees. Would never harm them I just wish they would respect my personal space 😅

[u/flushmebro → u/calmcakes]

Real honeybees do respect your space. They have little to no interest in humans, they’re working anytime they’re out and about. Just collecting pollen to take home. It’s their only purpose when outside the hive. Stings are defensive only, and unlike wasps, a honeybee sting is fatal - to the bee.

[u/According-Bat-3091 → u/buffalofoodslut]

Lets not anthropomorphize and idealize honey bees. While necessary for our food systems, they are invasive and oucompete our native species for food. Almost all wasps/bees are generally disinterested in humans unless seriously threatened. Native polinators are very active this time of year stocking up for winter on golden rods/asters and other late blooming native food sources. Many of them are just emerging actually, as their lifecycle is aligned with these late season perennials before they bury themselves to overwinter.

[u/buffalofoodslut → u/According-Bat-3091]

I was specifically talking about yellowjackets becoming obnoxious around human food in Buffalo in late summer, not ranking the ecological virtue of North American pollinators.

[u/According-Bat-3091 → u/buffalofoodslut]

Understood, I just have a reflexive aversion to the pedestal on which the eurasian honey bee is frequently placed in these discussions i.e. "much kinder..never hurt a honey bee"

[u/buffalofoodslut → u/According-Bat-3091]

That’s fair. Still, I’d never seek out to harm a honey bee because of their value to agriculture, but I can understand their competitive nature v. native bees.

[u/New-Emu3593 → u/buffalofoodslut]

You also mean bumblebee s?

[u/stilgar02]

They’re probably not bees but yellowjackets. Their population peaks in the late summer.

[u/PuzzleheadedAge9374]

This time of year they get funny. Probably just with the weather changing. I call them “drunk bees” because they have no idea what they are doing. It’s not just you, everyone is getting stung.

[u/DrPhrawg → u/PuzzleheadedAge9374]

it’s cause they’re literally drunk off of rotting fruit.

[u/PuzzleheadedAge9374 → u/DrPhrawg]

I can see that. They are treating my hummingbird feeder like an open bar.

[u/munnycent]

They're probably wasps.

But if they are bees it's likely because of a dearth, aka not much is actively blooming right now so they're a little desperate to gather resources for winter and taking what they can get.

[u/son_et_lumiere → u/munnycent]

Goldenrod is in bloom now and very abundant.

[u/NightmareOnElmwood]

Highly likely they’re yellowjackets

[u/iZeddddd]

Theyre soooo fucking bad this time of year.

[u/Limp_Leg7129]

a yellowjacket flew at my face as i was reading this lol

[u/owmyrightnipple]

I went to the NT market on Saturday. Holy moly they were fucking everywhere.

[u/lola0203 → u/owmyrightnipple]

I was there also. They were all over the fruit. This is the worst time of year for yellow jackets.

[u/rbroni88]

Got them all over our yard. Then they nested near the sidewalk so I couldn’t mow. A friendly skunk or raccoon came by and dug out/ate their nest. Now I have to redirt and reseed the hole in my yard.

But yeah, their food is scarce now and the colonies are at peak population. Watch your step basically and avoid being around where they are during day time.

[u/CouchRottington]

I saw some poor bastards at a Tops who were trying to enter their vehicle after shopping, but it was COVERED in yellow jackets. They were perplexed. 😂 Must have been a nest under the hood or something

[u/calmcakes → u/CouchRottington]

That happens to me around this time of year too. If I park under a tree sap or something coats my car and then it’s just a buffet for them

[u/_muck_ → u/CouchRottington]

I honestly shop at night or in the rain this time of year because I'm phobic

[u/QuallyYayo]

No man seriously, mowing my yard yesterday I couldnt even keep counting. Swarms everywhere.

[u/Kunu_F_Baby]

You should get checked out! If they are targeting you that crazy you may be pre diabetic or something!

[u/rockettaco37]

Heh… yeah, those bastards are brutal

[u/saintnicklaus90]

If there is a social wasp nest within a few hundred yard radius you will see them foraging (hovering close to the ground and sometimes in little groups). These Yellowjackets workers are nowhere near as aggressive as the soldiers stationed by the nest entrance and are focused on gathering sugar this time of year. They will sting if swatted at or if they get caught in your clothes but otherwise should be rather indifferent.

If you see a stream of wasps going in and out of a hole in the ground or structure, then you should really avoid that area until we start getting hard frosts

[u/cubosh]

perhaps your body is made of open pepsi cans

[u/Legitimate_Onion1107]

I believe it's what they call swarming season

[u/Prestigious-Force104]

Maybe they’re just horny? Can bees even get horny?

[u/No-Commercial4099]

They were wild at the Zoo today. Like so beyond aggressive. I was getting really pissed about it. Makes more sense reading this. Makes me less mad about it.

[u/Opposite_Cobbler_108]

Ours are horrible too right now. My poor aunt got stung at my house yesterday while dropping off food. I felt so freaking bad!!!!