Worker honey bees carry pollen in specialized baskets on the outer sides of their hind legs. These baskets, called corbiculae, have a flattened area surrounded by retaining hairs. The bee gathers pollen from flowers, brushes the grains into place, and compacts them into visible pellets that can stay attached during flight.
How can you spot a pollen basket?
Look for a rounded lump on the outer side of each hind leg of a worker honey bee. Depending on the flowers visited, the load may be yellow, cream, orange or reddish. It is not a stinger or an egg. The pale pellet in this close-up is attached to a leg while the bee visits a purple blossom.
Step 1: collecting pollen from a flower
While a bee searches for nectar or pollen, grains cling to branched hairs on its body. A flower’s stamens release pollen that may brush against the bee’s head, chest or legs. Those body hairs help hold the grains temporarily. During a visit, the insect may also transfer some grains to another blossom, which is how it contributes to pollination.
Step 2: grooming the pollen into a pellet
The bee does not simply wait until its body is covered. Using its legs, it combs grains from the front and middle of the body toward the hind legs. Specialized brushes and the pollen press help consolidate them. A little nectar or other moisture makes the mass cohesive instead of powdery. The gathering and grooming motions turn thousands of separate grains into a relatively compact load.
Step 3: keeping the load secure in flight
Despite the word “basket,” the structure is not a pouch with a lid. Its concave surface and border of hairs hold the compressed pollen lump. The slightly sticky pellet and retaining bristles work together; it is more like a firmly packed piece of dough held in a shallow scoop than loose flour in a bowl. The bee may return to the colony with a pellet on each hind leg.
What happens when the bee reaches the hive?
Once home, the collected pollen is deposited into comb cells. Workers may mix, pack and store it as part of the colony’s food supply. Pollen is especially valuable for its proteins, fats and other nutrients, whereas honey is primarily made from sugar-rich nectar. For the difference, see bee bread versus honey.
Do all bees carry pollen this way?
No. Honey bees and many bumblebees have distinctive pollen baskets, but other types of bees use clusters of pollen-carrying hairs called scopae. Some have them on their legs; others carry pollen beneath their abdomens. Some parasitic bee species do not gather pollen for their own young at all. A visible leg pellet is therefore a useful clue but not a universal bee feature.
Frequently asked questions
Are the colorful balls on a bee’s legs always pollen?
On a foraging honey bee’s outer hind legs, rounded colored loads are usually packed pollen. Color alone does not identify the flower species.
Can a bee pollinate flowers if it carries the pollen away?
Yes. It can deposit pollen onto flower reproductive parts during visits even as it collects some for the colony. Not every grain ends up in a basket.
Is honey made from these pollen pellets?
Not primarily. Honey bees make honey mainly by processing nectar and reducing its water content. Stored pollen plays a different nutritional role.
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