Red maple is one of the earliest nectar plants for honeybees, usually coming available sometime in April. You’ve got to look. We normally look for bees close to the ground, but if it is sunny and not too windy the bees can work the red maples, mainly for nectar, but a grayish brown pollen is available too, and they need all the nectar and pollen they can haul in in the spring. Interesting factoid: on foraging trips, honeybees tend to specialize: they go for nectar or for pollen and if they go for nectar, it is nectar from a single floral source. Red maples bloom before they leaf out. Apparently bees will work sugar maples, too, but their blooms aren’t available until May when there are more other food sources for bees, so red maple is more important to them because of its early bloom.
