Does a solar eclipse affect bees? The short answer is: Yes, it does!
And the reason why becomes particularly interesting when you understand how bees use the sun.
Honeybees use the sun as a compass. When a forager returns to the hive and performs her waggle dance, she is giving the other bees directions to a food source. The angle of her dance communicates the direction they need to fly in relation to the position of the sun.
But bees do not necessarily need to see the sun itself. On an ordinary cloudy day, they can use patterns of polarised light in the sky to work out where the sun is. Their navigation system is remarkably sophisticated.
A solar eclipse creates a very different situation because light levels fall rapidly in the middle of the day. During the 2017 total solar eclipse across North America, researchers studying honeybees found that foraging dropped dramatically during totality, although it did not stop altogether.
Light appears to be the important signal. Researchers found that changes in light intensity explained the altered flight behaviour considerably better than changes in temperature.
Light and bees’ internal clocks
And there is another interesting element at work: a bee’s internal clock.
Normally, falling light levels and the bee’s circadian rhythm tell the same story — the day is ending. During a solar eclipse, those signals suddenly conflict. The bee’s internal clock says it is daytime, while the rapidly darkening environment begins to resemble night.
So yes, a solar eclipse can affect bees. It doesn’t simply leave them unable to navigate because they can’t see the sun. Instead, the rapidly changing light conditions disrupt their normal daytime pattern and foraging activity can fall dramatically.
For an animal that uses the sun to navigate, communicates directions in relation to its position, and regulates its daily activity partly through changing light levels, a solar eclipse is a very unusual event indeed.
Hanna Bäckmo
Hanna Bäckmo is an award-winning beekeeper, entrepreneur, hobby gardener and internationally published writer. Originally from a small island in Sweden, she now lives in East Cork with her son, two dogs, a flock of rescue chickens and lots of bees. Hanna is the founder of Hanna’s Bees, producing a unique range of natural and sustainable honey, propolis, and beeswax products sold in Ireland’s leading Gift & Artisan food stores and select US outlets. With 70 colonies of Native Irish honeybees, she is a passionate bee-advocate and educator and is an Ambassador for the Native Irish Honeybee.
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If you’ve passed a hedgerow in August, you would not fail to notice that the blackberries. I love picking and eating handfuls of sun warmed blackberries while out beekeeping to keep the energy levels up. But did you know that Blackberries or brambles are extremely good for honey bees and other pollinators?
BEE-SPLAINING: Does a solar eclipse affect bees?
Does a solar eclipse affect bees? The short answer is: Yes, it does!
And the reason why becomes particularly interesting when you understand how bees use the sun.
Honeybees use the sun as a compass. When a forager returns to the hive and performs her waggle dance, she is giving the other bees directions to a food source. The angle of her dance communicates the direction they need to fly in relation to the position of the sun.
But bees do not necessarily need to see the sun itself. On an ordinary cloudy day, they can use patterns of polarised light in the sky to work out where the sun is. Their navigation system is remarkably sophisticated.
A solar eclipse creates a very different situation because light levels fall rapidly in the middle of the day. During the 2017 total solar eclipse across North America, researchers studying honeybees found that foraging dropped dramatically during totality, although it did not stop altogether.
Light appears to be the important signal. Researchers found that changes in light intensity explained the altered flight behaviour considerably better than changes in temperature.
Light and bees’ internal clocks
And there is another interesting element at work: a bee’s internal clock.
Normally, falling light levels and the bee’s circadian rhythm tell the same story — the day is ending. During a solar eclipse, those signals suddenly conflict. The bee’s internal clock says it is daytime, while the rapidly darkening environment begins to resemble night.
So yes, a solar eclipse can affect bees. It doesn’t simply leave them unable to navigate because they can’t see the sun. Instead, the rapidly changing light conditions disrupt their normal daytime pattern and foraging activity can fall dramatically.
For an animal that uses the sun to navigate, communicates directions in relation to its position, and regulates its daily activity partly through changing light levels, a solar eclipse is a very unusual event indeed.
Hanna Bäckmo
Curious about the world of bees and honey? Join our newsletter to learn something new each week.
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If you’ve passed a hedgerow in August, you would not fail to notice that the blackberries. I love picking and eating handfuls of sun warmed blackberries while out beekeeping to keep the energy levels up. But did you know that Blackberries or brambles are extremely good for honey bees and other pollinators?
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