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.

A Bee with Racing Stripes?

My friend Stephen was helping a new beekeeper when they spotted these spotted honey bees. It almost looks like someone was doing a science experiment using marked bees. It’s probably sticky pollen that got glued to the bees’ blind spots … Continue reading

Posted in Bee Biology, Friends, Strange, Odd Stuff | Tagged | 12 Comments

Insect ID Workshop

This gallery contains 8 photos.

Originally posted on LSE Bees:
Can you spot anything wrong with the book cover shown below? (The answer is below the picture.) Yes, the insect in question is a fly, not a bee. In a similar vein, a Guardian article about bees published…

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Good News: No Killer Bees at the Olympics

Whatever happened to the Killer Bees? Killer Bees – more accurately, hybrids of European and African honey bees – were supposed to destroy the world, or at least kill a lot of people trying. They started out in Brazil, not … Continue reading

Posted in Beekeeping, Culture, or lack thereof, Diseases and Pests, History, Humour, Killer Bees, Movies, Stings, Swarms | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Honey for a year-old’s Birthday?

Please folks, don’t feed honey to babies. Just like spinach and sandbox bugs, honey may (rarely) contain botulism spores. Today I heard about a huge celebrity bash in Washington, D.C., for a one-year-old’s birthday.  It bugged me that the birthday … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Honey, Humour, Strange, Odd Stuff | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Saturday at the Hive

I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It’s a remarkable city. Economist magazine ranks us as the world’s fifth-best city (they place Vancouver and Toronto as 3rd and 4th) while the international agency the Mercer Group says Calgary has the cleanest … Continue reading

Posted in Beekeeping, Commercial Beekeeping, Friends | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Whither the Sunflower?

It can feel a little creepy, sitting on a bench on the edge of a sunflower forest with your back to the sun. In that position, all the sunflowers are looking at you. If it’s morning. The marvel of the … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Honey, Honey Plants, Science | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Zombees in Canada

I wish I had good news. Canada’s first confirmed case of zombees has appeared – on Vancouver Island, out in the Pacific. Hundreds of kilometres from my home in Calgary.  Zombie zombees, like the human kind, are undeads who are … Continue reading

Posted in Bee Biology, Diseases and Pests, Ecology, Strange, Odd Stuff | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Identifying the “Wild Bees” in John Clare’s poem – UPDATED

Originally posted on Prof. Jeff Ollerton – ecological scientist and author:
John Clare is one of the most celebrated English poets of rural landscapes and nature in the 19th century. To quote his biographer, Clare was “the greatest labouring-class poet that England…

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Bee Vandals

I’ll never understand vandalism. Theft I understand. I don’t like it, I don’t condone it, I’ve been victimized by it. But I can understand how it might sometimes happen. Vandalism, however, is strange. And stupid. Vandalism is nothing new. The … Continue reading

Posted in Bee Yards, Beekeeping, Commercial Beekeeping, Diseases and Pests | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Another Reason to Avoid Walmart?

Sounds like a drug deal gone wrong. They met at a Walmart parking lot to do their business, the public panicked and three bystanders ended up at hospital. It turned out to be a sting operation. The deal was a … Continue reading

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