This little lady landed on Joaquin, and he immediately recognized that it was Beemione. Our friend is a worker bees.
Worker bees are hardworking ladies, and they serve many roles over the course of their short life spans. When she is young (3 to 12 days), as a nurse bee, she nurtures and feeds bee larvae and feeding the queen. When she’s a little older (12 to 21 days), she is responsible for taking incoming nectar and making and capping honey. She eventually graduates to forager bee (22 to 42 days) and leaves the hive to collect pollen and nectar to bring back to the younger worker bees to process. She’s out foraging from sun up to sunset.
In the summer months, a worker bee lives about 6 weeks. Flying so many miles takes a lot out of these busy workers. In the winter, because her job is to stay in the hive and keep the hive warm, she can live as long as eight months.
Junior beek watches worker bees tending to brood.