Marking bees

It's been warm for the past two days and the bees are out and about. I saw dark bees on the lavender and once again wondered if they were mine. The flowers are only about 100' from the hive- maybe too close for their foraging preference. So, I decided to investigate. I went out and got a 4-0 brush and some acrylic paint at Palace Art Supplies and a butterfly net at The Mad Molecule Shop.
Then I caught some bees that were gathering nectar on the lavender, folded the net over to hold them and marked them with the paint. Easier said than done. I got paint on one's wings and then she was unable to fly. I also tried marking one with white-out, which worked well but made cleaning the brush difficult.
Then I sat by the hive to watch for a marked bee to come back. I listened to John LeCarre's Our Kind of Traitor while I waited. Then a bee got ornery and I had to leave. (I did get my first sting a couple of days ago while working on the bridge; more about that in a future blog.) I came back, but got buzzed at again. So I got my scope and set it up on the path a safe distance away.
I watched for over 1/2 hour and finally saw one of the marked bees coming out of the hive. I watched more and saw a couple of bees (or the same one twice) going into and coming out of the hive. QED, my bees do forage in our yard!