Hi all

Ruth Said...
> honeybees are not attracted to just any black spot (like eyes)

An eye is not 'just a black spot', it has a glazed, almost spherical
surface. I am not one of those that has observed bees diving into to the
nozzle of a smoker.

The two smokers that I use most often, have black plastic knobs which have a
domed central portion to their top. the material is shiny and the curvature
of the surface is similar to that of a human eyeball. I have seen individual
bees fly at (and bounce off) the smokers, but I cannot say that the knob has
received any special attention. However if a bee was in the process of
'mobbing' the smoker (for whatever reason perceived by the bee) and it
happened to enter the spout, it would not 'bounce off' and will probabaly
perish in the process.

This is far different to the behaviour of bees that appear to be attracted
to human eyes...

The bees remain at a distance from the face and tend to 'keep station' if
the human moves. There is usually only one bee exhibiting this behaviour.

This is different again from the 'head butting' where many bees bump into a
beekeeper's veil. While this has the appearance of 'attacking', most of the
bees merely fly at, and hit the person, only a small number will actually
sting.

> As for personal experience, I do have experience in beekeeping,

I am aware of that, but I should have included the words recent or
relevent... helping a family member fifty years ago is 'experience in
beekeeping', but is not relevent experience for a beekeeping researcher that
is pontificating on a matter that depends on observation.

Best Regards & 73s, Dave Cushman... G8MZY
Beekeeping and Bee Breeding Website
http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman

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