Corralitas Drive: What Are These Bees Doing?

Photos: Diane Edwardson, September 18, 2013.  Since the weather warmed up Friday, bees have been digging intently in the potted chives for the past few days.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

 

Dozens of bees at a time have been excitedly flying in and digging in the dirt, then flying back out in the same direction.  They are ignoring the the dirt in the adjacent potted basil and parsley.  They are just going nuts in the chives. 

So I emailed Red Car Property neighbor, blog contributor and Backwards Beekeeper Russell Bates.  He responded,

"That's pretty cool! I would guess that either:
--there's something sweet in that soil that they want, or

--they're collecting water from the soil because they don't have another nearby source for it."

 

I'm guessing they're finding something sweet in the soil, since they're not in any of the nearby pots.  A couple of their comrades drowned in the nearby dog bowl.