15 August β 14 November
the coastal calendar, shifted 14 days later for this region
Rosemary and sage from February, lime and chestnut in June; hives on every karst slope.
Swarming β the colony's actual reproduction β is a late-April to June event and is the only time the whole superorganism is visibly in one place. Dalmatian sage honey is a single-fortnight harvest in May and a wet spring erases it.
photos, sightings and recordings, off this site
where this species is on the list
| Phase | When | Length | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| wintering here | 15 November β 23 February | 101 days | Here through the winter but not breeding β the year is simply on hold. The colony survives, not the individual: a winter bee lives six months, a summer bee six weeks. |
| going about the year | 24 February β 28 March | 33 days | Feeding, holding territory, doing nothing the calendar singles out. |
| larvae feeding | 29 March β 3 May | 36 days | Caterpillars, grubs or nymphs feeding and growing. |
| courting | 4 May β 14 May | 11 days | Song, display, fighting, scent-marking β pairs forming or reaffirming. |
| brood in the nest | 15 May β 14 August | 92 days | Dependent young in the nest, den or burrow, being fed. |
| new queens leaving | 15 August β 14 November | 92 days | Young leaving for good, looking for a territory of their own. |