小蜜很少光顾郁金香的。 估计郁金香是培育出来让人看着好看， 至于有没有花蜜， 有没有花粉， 就没有那么重要了。 但是有一个品种， 小蜜很爱的。 被我碰到了。 不过已经是10年前拍的片！ 现在开始整理小蜜采各种花的照片。 要不我死了以后， 这些片片都埋没了啊。

Published May 8, 2014.

Will honey bees forage on tulip flowers? On certain varieties, yes. I searched for google images and there are only a few (less than 4) photos of honey bees foraging on tulip. I have seen others occasionally showing a honey bee flying toward some tulip flowers. Kathy Keatley Garvey says perhaps the lone bee she observed on a tulip was making a mistake.  I did observed one variety of tulip attracting many bees -- perhaps due to its quite abundant and drier pollen? That was April 11, 2004 (I love digital cameras! on film I am not sure if I would find my record of the date and time). Since tulips are just blooming now, this is another piece of evidence that this year our season is one month behind!

There are not many records of honey bees foraging on tulips. So I consider this flower not important for honey bees.  Nevertheless, enjoy these photos, as these bees certainly did!

Photos taken April 11, 2014, with Nikon D70. I think I just bought that camera March that year!

1. Anybody knows the name of this tulip variety? Its "cups" are quite open, not typical tulip flowers with more closed cups.

2. You can see the dried pollen on the petals.
3. A bee in flight, she is covered with pollen

3. One is working hard with another one coming to the same flower.

4.  Looked at the pollen everywhere!

5. A close up of a bee in flight. the wings are almost vertical, this is during the position when the wings have reached the highest position and the wings are ready to turn direction and then flip downward to generate lift.

More photos are at

http://ww2.beetography.com/index.php/Apis-mellifera/Tulip

References:

Garvey,K.K. 2010. Tiptoeing Through the Tulips,http://cagardenweb.ucanr.edu/?blogpost=2555&blogasset=42184