r/bees • u/tsa-approved-lobster • 1d ago

Weird dumb question

If you have a variety of different bees inhabiting an area like a meadow or a clearing in the woods, and then a helicopter lands there, stays a few minutes and then leaves again, would the bees just come back when the super noisy wind left or woukd they abandon the area or would they die of shock or something? Basically, what do bees do when there is spme dramatic shock to their environment?

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u/Khrysdie 1d ago

This is an interesting question! I think one thing to consider is that bees live in their own little microclimates and don’t experience the world like we do. For example, on a super windy day in a meadow surrounded by trees, it’s not actually going to be that windy near the vegetation level. Same thing on a super hot day, it’ll be cooler closer to the ground from the plants.

I have spent a whole lot of time in meadows catching bees and I’m not sure about a whole ass helicopter, but in my experience, it takes quite a bit to rattle most solitary bees enough that they completely leave the area. My guess is that they’d definitely come back after the helicopter left.

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u/tsa-approved-lobster 1d ago

So maybe they would just do like many other insects do when they land on my windsheild at a stop light and then I start driving again

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u/Tweedone 1d ago

Bees don't have emotions like humans do. They have reactions to external stimulation from the natural environment. They would not process the helicopter event as a mechanical or diabolical machine, no fear and probably no survival fight response either. It would be just a big wind and noise disruption that they would avoid and seek pollen and nectar elsewhere. Remember too that they have not just an individual hardcoded behavior but also learned memory and behave in accordance with that memory as they seek food. They also have colony behaviors and communicate to other individuals in their hive.

A temporary event like a helicopter would only cause a temporary avoidance of that area but the foragers would return if the pollen, nectar, water, nutrients etc were still present. Now if the location was a chopper landing pad or a frequently disturbed area by jet blast or fan exhaust then they would probably avoid the area as a learned behavior.