The bees featured here are a normally solitary species called Diadasia rinconis - but they congregate in giant breeding colonies in the spring. Even when in a mating swarm of up to half a million, they’re pretty calm. But wearing sturdy boots, thick trousers and a long-sleeved shirt is a good idea.
To capture the close up sounds of bees in a roiling mating ball, bee expert Steve Buchmann used heavy gloves to grab them and put them into a shoe box I’d made two holes in, which I poked a pair of DPA 4060 high sensitivity omnis into.
