Edit: interestingly, I see a lot of honeybees and some wasps foraging, both on the leaves and flowers of the tilia, but it’s only the bumblebees that lie dead on the ground.
Every summer, there are dozens of bumblebees either dead or dying beneath tilia trees (linden/lime/basswood).
Why?
My father once told me (some 20 years ago?) that they die from “overeating”. With all due respect to his linden tea (thanks dad🩷🩵🤍), this sounds like folklore…
I have no knowledge or expertise whatsoever, but could it simply be that the trees are very popular with the bees? Thus they’re not dying for any particular reason, but since they visit so frequently, many of them happen to die there as well?
Ah, a connessuier of aeroplane chickenpox!