Festooning: Acrobatic Bees

Well today I learned something new! After reading some other blogs, I noticed a post that was similar to a photograph I took last week when I noticed some bees doing a cool little Circus trick. It is called festooning and is when bees expose their wax glands for other bees to use to build comb. Additionally, it is used to bridge open spaces.

The first time I noticed this behavior was when I picked up my bees and they were all "festooning" creating a bee curtain.

This is a photo of a swarm (where bees are festooning) found at Arlington Heights (IL) Public Library - close to where I used to live. Talk about irony - their childrens' summer reading program was bee themed!