The hurricane and the bee

The bee during the 'eye of the hurricane' interlude as Hurricane Nicole traversed the island

The night before Hurricane Nicole arrived I went outside onto the front porch to feel the fresh breeze blowing across Bermuda.

It was October 12, and by the following morning the island would be in the grips of the hurricane. Nicole was a Category 4 hurricane, although was to weaken to a powerful Cat 3 by the time she reached the island's shores.

From the light that shone through the open door behind me I spotted a shape on one side of the small wall that bounded the porch area. At first I guessed it was a tree frog, but on closer inspection I realised it was a bee. A bee that had perhaps lost its way, or run out of energy, and now was resting for the night far from the safety of its hive.

The bee was motionless, no doubt sleeping. As I went back indoors, I wondered if the insect would survive the night and find its way home before the storm hit.

The following morning, as hurricane winds started to build, I again checked how things were on the front porch. The wind was blowing from the east, which meant the porch was sheltered, providing a vantage point to watch the trees bending and the rain lashing. And there on the wall, although now perched on the flat top, was the bee. It was still motionless, but had moved during the night. For the time being it was protected from the ravages of the hurricane by the lee of the cottage, so long as it did not try to fly away.

The next time I checked was around midday as the eye of the hurricane passed over the island. During the eye the wind subsided; there was an hour or so of perfect, but slightly eerie stillness. The bee appeared to have survived the first half of the hurricane, but it was not moving.

I studied it for signs of life and concluded that it had perished after its night in the open, and its morning exposed to the elements of the hurricane. Then one of its small antenna moved a fraction. It was still alive, but must have been at its weakest. Could it be revived?

In a bid to assist, I mixed some water and a sugar cube in a cup to create a sweet liquid. Using a teaspoon I poured some of the liquid in front of the bee. The liquid quickly spread around on the surface of the wall, going around and beneath the bee.

Suddenly aware of the liquid, the insect started to move and drink the sweet solution.  The bee was no longer inanimate, it was walking around. Another small teaspoon of the sweet drink was poured on the wall, and again the bee responded to the helping of liquid energy.

I went indoors for a moment, and when I returned the bee had gone. It had flown away.

Would it now be able to complete its journey to the hive and safety before the second half of the hurricane? The eye of the storm moved away and the wind howled from the opposite direction. Had the bee still been on the porch it would not have survived the battering that came during the next few hours.

Now, many weeks later, as I walk through the garden I occasionally catch a glimpse of a bee or two, and I wonder if one of them might be the 'hurricane bee' that tenaciously held on during the storm.

BELOW: A short video of Hurricane Nicole, including the bee during the eye of the storm: