I once had a spider lay her eggs in one of my rose flowers. She tied the flower up with her eggs inside. The amazing thing was the other flowers died in winters chill, but this one stayed red and whole. February came and was time to cut the bushes to the ground. I left the one sprig uncut. Spring came. The little buggers hatched. They were red like the rose, soon to be green like dear old mom. After a few days I noticed a couple of yellow jackets were eating my babies. I dispatched them with fly spray. The time came for the brood to leave the nest and the rose flower finally died. None said goodbye or thanks for protecting them. I did notice that I didn't have to spray for white flies or Japanese beatles that summer. I think that was enough thanks for anyone.
tarheel |
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Bees are faster than pigeons.
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If Attenborough is describing a horrific lifecycle, 90% chance he's describing a wasp.
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Pertinent quote from the comments section of the WaPo article:
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I have activity in both hives but I think I took a numbers hit.
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The honeybee is doing OK only because of intense intervention by man. I've read a bunch of articles saying the problem's real cause is X or Y or Z. Likely it's a combination of a bunch of things, none of which anyone cares to tackle other than on a local small scale. |
I've read enough to know that we're in trouble, but not enough to be confident about all of the science (meaning trends and population issues; the neonicotinoids are another matter). However - small local scale can make a difference, even turn the tide. I'm going to set up hives this spring.
I've watched the bat population on our property wax and wane over 10 years - there isn't much I can do to help them other than do no harm. For the bees, maybe a little positive intervention is possible. |
They're smart too!
Bumblebees are nimble learners. Quote:
And some busybee-scientists are probing the bee brains. Quote:
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I was using a small underpowered wood chipper that had an engine like a lawn mower with the fan on top pulling air in and down through the engine for cooling. Anyway, I'm making a lot of noise and chips are flying but the huge Bumble bee is nosing around at their usual pace of how the hell do they stay up. Sure enough he gets sucked into the engine and I figure he's a gonner.
It must have been at least five minutes before the engine stalled again and pretty quick he come flying out, flew in a couple circles then moseyed off. I thought damn, he is one tough bastard, must be a Seal, or Green Beret, of the Bumblebees. |
Beeeeeeeeeeeees
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Cheerios ran a ad campaign offering wild flower seeds for the claimed purpose of helping save the Honeybees. We know it was a self serving ad campaign but at least it was something cool, instead of some plastic shit which would break the heart of every kid who mailed in and waited six to eight weeks.
They are promising to add 3300 acres of wild flowers to their oat farms, and set a goal of giving away 100,000,000 wild flower seeds. I don't know how many seeds in a packet so it's hard to figure how many people requested seeds. They stopped the promotion after giving away 1.5 Billion seeds. I hope half of them get planted, and 20% of those grow. Thanks, Cheerios. |
That kind of advertising should be rewarded.
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