Bee drinking with her "straw"

Over a few days last week, I was harvesting some honey. I have found one of the best ways to clean your equipment off from the very sticky honey is to give it back to the bees and let them clean it for me, after all they are getting back what we didn't use. I had some comb that was still pretty sticky with honey so I put it out on the deck and they went to town. If you look close at the bee in the center of the picture, she is using her proboscis or "tongue" to get deep down into the cell to get the last little bit of honey. Their proboscis is like a straw with a delicate tube and has a spoon like lobe (called a labella) that gives them the ability to suck the nectar right up. I just love these creatures and their abilities are fascinating!