Wild Honey Bees?

Mistwalker

Mistwalker

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Dec 22, 2007
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Last year I read a lot about disappearing honey bees and CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder). So this year just out of curiosity I am trying to document the different areas I find honey bees. Have any of you guys noticed honey bees while you have been out hiking.

I found these down the road at a neighbor’s house. I’m told by a friend who raises honey bees in another country that the pollen (?) build-up on this first bee’s legs looks a bit odd. Anyone got any input on that?

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Then I found these yesterday, in town where my wife works. They are much smaller than the others I've seen this year and the ones I found last year. Some were darker as well.

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.
 
looks like that first bee has the gout :)

No idea about the bees,when I see them,
Im usually running the other way
very nice pictures though
Im curious if they are making a comeback as well
 
Mist I live in east TN and bees just haven't been around for several years now, they are few and far between.

The creek on the land I grew up on was always covered with bees collecting water but for the last few years you don't see them.

Really quite a concern seeing that at least 40% of the food grown needs to be pollinated with bees.
 
Those are honeybees. The buildup is pollen on the corbicula. Not odd to see them everywhere during this part of the year
 
They swarm right now and locate new nests, so the wild honeybee populations can be found in small numbers, the problem is, it is hard for them to go through the winter or a few winters without getting a huge mite load.

Different colors of pollen for different types they are gathering.Those are all honey bees because they have this pollen basket feature. The mimic flies don't gather pollen, like that.
 
I have noticed some while walking the dog this spring. I have kept an eye out for them the past couple of years after hearing the news on them disappearing. I will say i'm walking a different area this year but I have found more honey bees than years past.
 
Joezilla said:
They swarm right now and locate new nests, so the wild honeybee populations can be found in small numbers, the problem is, it is hard for them to go through the winter or a few winters without getting a huge mite load.

Different colors of pollen for different types they are gathering.Those are all honey bees because they have this pollen basket feature. The mimic flies don't gather pollen, like that.
Click to expand...

Thanks Joe, I was hoping you would chime in on this. This is just an amateur study for me, but I know what your degree is. I was just marking up some pics on M.S. Paints that show features that point to honey bees. I've seen more honey bees this year than in the last few years.

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My friend who raises bees in Australia asked me why the pollen on the first bee looks like toffee, but I couldn't answer that. He said his bees usually come back looking like the ones in the second series of shots with a powdery looking pollen, but I think they mostly gather from masses of fennel on the sides of the roads in his area.
 
How could I miss a chance to nerd off!

There are actually four wings in that picture, and the legs are just...legs, not antennae. The wings of the honeybee and other antsbeeswaspsetc (order Hymenoptera-vein wing) have a little hook called hamuli which hook the wings together.
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All flying insects, almost all, have four wings:
except for DIPTERA! (that means two wings)
FLIES.
Flies have a modified balance organ that was a wing at some point ( I think). It looks like a bulb right underneath the wing. You rip one of those off and the flies breakdances like that Korean on America's got talent.

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It just depends on what time of year, what they are gathering. Right where I am at, they just finished Tulip Poplar nectar, but the pollen, earlier is mostly bright yellow. Maple is snot green looking. I'm not that good at IDing pollen by color, and most don't have an exact clue, just the majority of what is blooming, etc.

you will dig this site:
http://www.savethehives.com/fbp/
I used to assist the Girl who put this together. She was smart and determined and got a lot of cool research from this.
 
Their pollen basket is pretty cool by the way, it has a comb structure on it, and uses a hammer and anvil style (best I could describe it) system of forming the pollen granules. Bumblebees and other bees have this too, in different forms.
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tonym said:
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Sorry, couldn't resist...
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Yeah, even in high school...long hair, knee high moccasins, and first male student at Red Bank High with my ear pierced... I was a nerd with my nose in a book. I was just more into observing nature than wondering how and why. It wasn't until digital cameras and the internet that this interest really picked up. Bees will likely be the reason for the next expensive lens I buy.
 
Duzzy said:
Good to know. I'm on my phone and I could only see two wings on the bees that I pointed out.
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Yeah, I bet that is a different view. Out in the sun it is even hard for me to tell things from the lcd on the camera even on zoomed macro shots because the screen is so much smaller than my monitor.
 
As an avid honey collector, I talk with the local apiaries on occasion, and in recent years they have talked about losses from CCD. I was concerned because last year my plum tree had very little fruit, and I wondered if it was because of low bee numbers. This spring when it was blooming I watched it carefully and saw absolutely no bees on it. But they must have been busy because the tree has a heavy crop this year.

I have a number of citrus trees in my yard, and when they bloomed a few months ago there were plenty of bees on them.

There was an article recently in the Fresno Bee about this subject, and it gave me the impression that bee numbers are currently recovering after some hard years. That is good news around here, since so much of this valley's economy relies on bee-pollinated agriculture - almonds, peaches, nectarines, plums, walnuts, pistachios, citrus, etc, etc.
 
there are some organizations and natural wildlife shops up here that are encouraging people to set up masonbee block nests in their yards to help with local pollination
with the decline of wild bee`s in urban areas.
I think lee valley has a kit for them
good idea but I live in a condo
 
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