Author Archives: Ron Miksha

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About Ron Miksha

Ron Miksha is a bee ecologist working at the University of Calgary. He is also a geophysicist and does a bit of science writing and blogging. Ron has worked as a radio broadcaster, a beekeeper, and Earth scientist. (Ask him about seismic waves.) He's based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

National Pollinator Week

Posted on June 18, 2018 by Ron Miksha

National Pollinator Week has arrived: June 18-24! Today, I’m re-running part of a blog I posted last week.  It had some ideas on what you might do to celebrate Pollinator Week. Pollinator Partnership tells us, “National Pollinator Week is a … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Outreach, Pollination | Tagged , | 2 Comments

What if my pet gets stung?

Posted on June 17, 2018 by Ron Miksha

Calgary has a dry climate. After it rains, some of our bees celebrate by sucking cedar water from our deck. I’m not sure what the attraction is, but a few bees always sit on the wet deck and lap up … Continue reading →

Posted in Stings, Strange, Odd Stuff | Tagged , | 10 Comments

Eva Crane: Nuclear Physicist, Beekeeper

Posted on June 11, 2018 by Ron Miksha

June 12th.  I have an excuse to write a bit about the amazing Ethel Eva Widdowson, born in London on June 12th, 1912. By age 30, she had defended her doctorate in nuclear physics, begun to teach at Sheffield University, … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, History, People | Tagged | 5 Comments

My Annual ALS Post

Posted on June 10, 2018 by Ron Miksha

I have a type of motor neuron disease, similar to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which most people call ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease because that’s easier to say. Every year I do a post about the disease in order to thank, … Continue reading →

Posted in Apitherapy, Culture, or lack thereof, Friends, Outreach | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Celebrating Pollination Week

Posted on June 6, 2018 by Ron Miksha

National Pollinator Week is coming, June 18-24. You have less than two weeks to get your affairs in order.  I’m not always sure what a person is supposed to do when National (fill-in-the-blank) Day/Week/Month is celebrated. Well, it’s pretty obvious … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Ecology, Outreach, Save the Bees | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Package Bee Population

Posted on June 3, 2018 by Ron Miksha

Yesterday, I wrote about bee populations in a hive that starts as a package.  The original bees slowly die while the number of new bees, arising from eggs laid by the package’s queen, rapidly increases. In yesterday’s example, the immigrant … Continue reading →

Posted in Beekeeping, Queens, Science | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

A Depleted Home

Posted on June 2, 2018 by Ron Miksha

A few days ago, a friend invited me to visit her bees.  In one part of her apiary, there were three hives, neatly lined, single-storey. These hives had started the season as packages five weeks earlier. Two were excellent. They … Continue reading →

Posted in Bee Biology, Beekeeping, Queens | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Palates of Bees?

Posted on May 31, 2018 by Ron Miksha

At the risk of irredeemably exposing my intractable pedantic nature, I have to take five minutes to admonish a gaggle of news reporters for their flawed word choice. I just read a news item, published by the American network ABC, which … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Humour, Strange, Odd Stuff | Tagged | 8 Comments

Bees (of a sort) on Postage Stamps!

Posted on May 30, 2018 by Ron Miksha

Canada has something called ‘permanent’ stamps. We call them “P” stamps. The first ones, issued ten years ago, had a small letter P on them, next the the Queen of England’s face. P stamps have become B stamps, at least … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Outreach, Save the Bees | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Ron on PolliNation!

Posted on May 28, 2018 by Ron Miksha

I’m so excited to share a link to PolliNation, the fantastic podcast about . . . Pollination!  This podcast episode features the show’s host in conversation with me! Dr Andony Melathopoulos, the bee scientist running The PolliNation Podcast, invited me … Continue reading →

Posted in Beekeeping, Culture, or lack thereof, Friends, Outreach, Pollination | Tagged , , | 2 Comments