Rural Gardening: Bees all over our fountain?, 1 by swampdiamonds

swampdiamonds wrote:
My husband and I moved into a house last summer in northern Iowa (we live on the edge of a tiny town, surrounded by corn fields) and it has an outdoor water feature (above ground fish pond/fountain) in our backyard, complete with goldfish. We've noticed that bees love hanging out on the rocks closest to the falling water, and we have a peaceful relationship (we ignore them, they ignore us). However, this spring, we've noticed a ton of dead bees in the water--don't know if they're drowning, or just dying, but the dead bees keep clogging the filter.

Do you think they have a hive nearby (I haven't been able to find anything that looks like a place bees would live, but I don't know exactly what to look for)? Do bees like to hang out around water, and do they easily fall in and drown? My husband and I both feel bad for them, and when we've seen live bees in the water, we've both tried to fish them out with a net. Ideas? Tips? I'm including a pic I snapped earlier today.