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IPR News Radio's Sunday host, Cheryl Bartz, tells us what to look for as we wander around northern Michigan, helping us notice the little wonders all around us.

Bees’ Zzzs

Cool mornings are a good time to watch bees because they’re slow-moving and sometimes even sleeping underneath flowers. (Photo: Cheryl Bartz/IPR)
Cool mornings are a good time to watch bees because they’re slow-moving and sometimes even sleeping underneath flowers. (Photo: Cheryl Bartz/IPR)

Do bees sleep? Yes. And like us, a lack of it can make it harder for them to communicate.

This is a good time of year for watching bees.

On cool mornings, you might find a bee hanging underneath a flower, not moving — which makes it the perfect time to get a good look.

Some people say the bees are sleeping, but are they really sleeping or just too cold to move?

Honeybees do experience a true sleep state. In fact, in studies where the bees are deprived of sleep, their “waggle dances” are impaired. The waggle dance is how they communicate to other bees where food sources are located.

But low temperatures can also make it impossible for them to fly. If they can’t make it back to the hive, again they often rest inside or underneath a flower.

Although scientists know that honeybees do sleep, it’s not possible to know if the particular bee you’re seeing is sleeping or just in a state of torpor from the cold.

If you have a keen eye, you can check the breathing rate by looking at the abdomen. An irregular pace is an indicator of sleep.

There are over 450 species of bees in Michigan and not all have been studied as thoroughly as the honeybee. So do the other species also sleep?

Most likely yes, according to Barrett Klein, professor of entomology at the University of Wisconsin. Even fruit flies sleep!

The bee I see most often is a bumblebee. The males don’t return to the colony. Instead, they sleep outside, and eventually die in the fall. (Females over-winter underground.)

Whether the bee you see is sleeping or just immobile from the cold, it’s a fun time of year to get up close and maybe snag a Facebook-worthy photo.

Learn more about bees and sleep.

Cheryl Bartz hosts IPR's Sunday programming and writes a (mostly) weekly essay called "What's Up Outside?"