What do bees see?

March 27th, 2006

Whether it’s a distinction of shades or brightness instead of color, the question still stands regarding whether or not bees are more drawn to yellow than … other colors. This appears to be a current topic of interest in many hummer chat rooms, and of course the reason for the question is that most folks (who feed hummingbirds) would prefer that the bees (as well as ants) not frequent their feeders.

Does anybody have actual testing experience to share? On the sales side, I can tell you that we are selling just as many feeders with red petals as we are with yellow. After red, the next favorite color appears to be teal. But this brings me to the more specific question; If bees can’t see color, but yellow attracts them, then what other color have similar qualities of attracting bees?

As for me, I plan to hang various feeders with various petal colors (purple, teal, red and yellow), and I’ll let you know of the results.

Happy feeding,

Chris Whelan

Entry Filed under: Hummingbird News