Bumble bee fight

[LordV]

Heard some loud buzzing when I was photographing some hoverflies, went to investigate and saw what I though was two bumble bees mating. They promptly fell straight through the low bush they were on and when I found them again it was obvious they were fighting.
The larger one seemed to be winning but the smaller one had a jaw locked onto the larger one's antenna. I'm pretty certain the smaller one had been stung by this time as it was hardly moving. After about 15 mins of this I went inside to get some strong magnifying glasses and some suitable instruments to see if I could unlock the bee from the antenna but the larger bee had flown off. The smaller bee was just still alive so I moved it to a flower pot to be able to see it but it died shortly after.

Not sure what was going on but never seen bumble bees fighting before.

Brian V.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3016/2602789497_d6168121fe_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3138/2602789505_45754fe1b5_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3290/2602789513_8fb1e5cbc3_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3147/2602805595_83c006d5db_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3230/2602805599_7675259afe_o.jpg

[Bill Pham]

nice action shot Brian. i never seen them fighting either.

Bill

[johnkermit1]

interesting shots indeed. nice find.

[dazzlebea]

What an interesting find, Brian! Well documented :)

UFC watch out for Bumble Bees!

[LindaB]

Wow, what great action shots. You can even see what looks like the claw digging in the eye on the last shot.

Amazing, but sad this happened. Stuart (Eucera) might be able to tell you what happened there.

Linda

[Jay Lowery]

must have stole some honey from him. damn honey thief's.

[Mick Emmett]

Excellent captures Brian, that'll teach him to keep his eyes off the girls :D

[scotteisenphotography]

very cool too see action like this that would normally be ignored blow up so large

[bandit 1]

Hiya Brian,

Superb shots, fantastic details, maybe they were fighting over a nest site, I did read somewhere that this does happen.

Cheers for now
Mark

[akmoose]

Thats amazing! Right place at the right time. Wonderful captures.

[txsnurse]

Wow... That was amazing photo's..

[dfrois]

Great captures, of a rare event. They sometimes fight when two bees from different nests happen to land on the same flower at the same time. Most of the times it is just a short skermish in flight, but it can get uglier.

Another occasion when there are fights among bees is when killer bees reach an area populated with domestic bees. I hope that is not the case.

Anyway, many congrats on these pics. A pleasure to watch.

DF

[newb2pro_1day_or_so]

great capture! their eyes make them look angry.

[Sugarman]

Great series, Brian.

[troypiggo]

So you witnessed a Bumble Rumble in the Jungle? 8-)

[alliec]

Excellent captures Brian, never seen anything like it before. You might have to crop the right hand side of the last shot, has some border on it, from hand stacking?

[LordV]

Thanks for the comments all :)

DF - thanks for the info
Troy- like it :)
Alistair - yes you right about the last shot- didn't notice it until after I posted.

Brian V.

[DaveBinks]

Great series of action shots, Brian

[lcpete]

Amazing series of shots Brian I've never seen this before either
Pete

[SwingBopper]

So you witnessed a Bumble Rumble in the Jungle? 8-)

That's hilarious! What a great set of a rare event. Thanks for sharing.

[pradeep1]

Third shot is great! Seems like they are human. :)

[dpastern]

Good set Brian, didn't know that Bumblebees would fight, how interesting! Any idea why they were fighting?

Dave

[digirebelva]

Excellent captures Brian, that'll teach him to keep his eyes off the girls :D

All worker bees are female..Males are only born once a year for mating purposes..:D

[troypiggo]

All worker bees are female..Males are only born once a year for mating purposes..:D

Yeah, I know how those guys feel having women fighting over them all the time....

[t1outof12]

Absolutely amazing to catch an event. I'd bee to chicken to get so close.(lol) Having just started with photography and especially macro, I have a lot to learn.

[LordV]

Thanks for the comments all :)
Still haven't heard a convincing explanation of the behaviour. Maybe they were fighting over who should get their photograph taken :)