Bee Attractant?

[55Kevy]

Just curious if anyone else has noticed this. Several times recently I've been flying (when the winds allowed) at lower altitudes, around 30 - 50 ft above take off and encounter what appear to be bees. If I ascend they apparently don't follow. Most all of my flights previously have been at 100' or higher and I rarely saw any insects. Is it possible that the bees are attracted by the noise/vibration the drone creates? I'm flying a Mini 2 with MAS stealth props.

 

[MA2 317]

I think the frequency may attract some insects.

There have been posts about having to clean up the aircraft with baby wipes after a bug encounter.



You must have been flying in Class BEE airspace.

They probably just want to see what the BUZZ is about.

Afterall, it is a DRONE.



.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Drones are male it is to be hoped there wasn't a queen in there bees are having a rough enough time as it is.

Just a thought but are there Africanised bees in CA?
If so it might be an idea to ask local bee keepers if workers accompany either the queen (on her mating flight) or drones (I can't remember if they do accompany either) and if they do bring the drone home the LONG way around.

 

[Starz]

Happens often. Best to fly away when they are visible. We need all the bees that can be saved.

 

[Starz]

Just a thought but are there Africanised bees in CA?

Even hard for scientists to distinguish the variations.

 

[jimlips]

Just curious if anyone else has noticed this. Several times recently I've been flying (when the winds allowed) at lower altitudes, around 30 - 50 ft above take off and encounter what appear to be bees. If I ascend they apparently don't follow. Most all of my flights previously have been at 100' or higher and I rarely saw any insects. Is it possible that the bees are attracted by the noise/vibration the drone creates? I'm flying a Mini 2 with MAS stealth props.

Do a search for "Bees", and you will see LOTS of messages regarding this, including videos.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Even hard for scientists to distinguish the variations.

I know but you don't want to find out they are in your region the hard way and I thought 'the powers that be' kept a fairly good check on their spread.

 

[15PSI]

I am a beekeeper. I have commented about this before. This is a normal phenomena, but it is more apparent during re-queening. If a queen needs to be replaced, because of age, she absconds or perishes, we introduce a new non-mated (virgin) to the apiary. She needs to mate, to store her sperm supplies (enough to fertilize eggs for 2-3 years). The virgin queen will fly 10-20 meters in altitude and mate with 5-10 or more males. The males are typically from other hives, to prevent in-breeding in her specific hive. Male bees sometimes become a bit confused by smaller drones (the theory is the noise of the props) and will attempt to mate with the drone. I no longer fly one of my minis during the days of the re-queening process, as I was tired of cleaning them after landing.

 

[Zeprider]

Yeah, I had an unfortunate encounter with a hive. I launched between two 50' (15m) trees, when I was near the top, a swarm moved out of the tree toward the drone. It was clear that they were in full attack mode as they surrounded the Phantom. It was a battle that they could never win. When I realized what was going on I dropped altitude. And just like that, the last of the troops moved back to the tree. Like the OP, they didn't follow my drone either which is something I was concerned with.

Then there was the bee splatter. A very messy affair.

The Mrs. has commented on how my MA2 sounds like a swarm of angry bees so frequency may very well play a part here.

 

[Rixon59]

Just curious if anyone else has noticed this. Several times recently I've been flying (when the winds allowed) at lower altitudes, around 30 - 50 ft above take off and encounter what appear to be bees. If I ascend they apparently don't follow. Most all of my flights previously have been at 100' or higher and I rarely saw any insects. Is it possible that the bees are attracted by the noise/vibration the drone creates? I'm flying a Mini 2 with MAS stealth props.

Totally, though mine is the Air2s, twice the other day while descending ,I had a swarm of bees around the drone ,and both the bees and the drone had the same pitch ,so I cannot decide if they were trying to fight,or mate ,with it unfortunately not all bees survived which is not a good thing.

 

[twickers14]

I too have had insect interest in my MA2. Indeed I have had to wipe the arms clean after a few of the unidentified buzzers failed to negotiate the drone challenge. Don’t think they were bees though. It happened in late June no idea if that is the “season”.

 

[Parallax]

This happened to me yesterday with my Mini 3. I had just finished taking a pano shot from about 100 ft. above my house. As the drone descended I saw a swarm of insects surrounding it. It was too high to know it was bees. I tried to take evasive action but they kept following the drone. They eventually gave up at an altitude of about 20 ft. When the drone landed it looked like evidence from a murder scene. I found some dead bees on my car and on the walkway. I felt pretty bad since I enjoy watching the bees go about their business in my backyard. I'm going to wait a week before flying near my house.

I once had a hummingbird hover near the drone, but it seemed more curious than aggressive.

 

[Lets Fly]

Just curious if anyone else has noticed this. Several times recently I've been flying (when the winds allowed) at lower altitudes, around 30 - 50 ft above take off and encounter what appear to be bees. If I ascend they apparently don't follow. Most all of my flights previously have been at 100' or higher and I rarely saw any insects. Is it possible that the bees are attracted by the noise/vibration the drone creates? I'm flying a Mini 2 with MAS stealth props.

Almost every flight I take I see bees in my video.

 

[CallmeDash]

Even hard for scientists to distinguish the variations.

According to my Uncle Monty, It's the African ones that carry coconuts

 

[Brojon]

I was a beekeeper and there are two things that will guaranteed get bees riled:
1 - dark clothing or hair.
- it is thought that attacking dark colors/hair is a response to skunks who are natural predators of bees and their larvae.
2 - lawn mowers and similar droning noises.
- Hives can get robbed of their honey by rival hives when resources are scarce. It is thought mowers trigger a hive defense since they think the hive is being attacked/robbed.