Stumbled into a drone congregation area with a drone on a fishing pole — best fun I've had all season
Something for the pure joy of it. A researcher friend visited my Tuscany apiary and brought a ridiculous rig: a fishing pole with a caged drone and a queen-pheromone lure dangled from the tip. We walked the ridge behind my hives on a warm still afternoon, waving this thing around like idiots.
Then we hit the spot. Maybe 15-20 metres over a gap between two tree lines, the air suddenly went loud. Within seconds there was a comet of drones chasing the lure — dozens of them, streaming after it in a tail. Step 50 metres away: nothing. Step back: comet again. The boundary was sharp like a wall.
He says drone congregation areas sit 10-40 m up, often over landmarks like tree gaps and ridgelines, drones fly in from kilometres around, and the same spots get used year after year even though no individual drone survives winter to remember it. Nobody fully knows how they find them. 14 years keeping bees and I'd never actually seen one. Go find yours, it's magic.
Wonderful description of the comet! The persistence across years is the part that still gives me chills — DCAs documented in the 1960s in Germany (some of Ruttner's sites) were still active decades later. Leading hypothesis involves terrain features funnelling flight paths plus the right horizon geometry, but 'nobody fully knows' remains the honest answer.
SkaneBees · Jul 1, 2026
Did this with a helium balloon and a lure a few summers back for our club's breeding group. Same experience — the edge of the area is unbelievably sharp. Practical angle: if you raise queens, knowing your local DCAs helps you reason about what drones your virgins are actually meeting.
HokkaidoHachi · Jul 1, 2026
This is going on my list for next summer in Hokkaido. Question — what height did the lure fly at? I have read 10-30 m and I am wondering if a fishing pole really reaches or if the drones come down to it.
YorkshireNewbee · Jul 1, 2026
First-year keeper here quietly amazed that this is a thing you can just... do. Where does one acquire a queen pheromone lure, and does the poor drone on the pole survive his afternoon of being the most popular lad in Tuscany?
MieleMarco · Jul 1, 2026
HokkaidoHachi — pole plus ridge elevation put the lure maybe 12 m over the gap floor and they came down to it happily; the balloon method reaches proper height. YorkshireNewbee — the lure is synthetic 9-ODA (queen substance), sold by bee research suppliers, and yes our drone went home to his hive afterwards, exhausted and famous. 🐝