Author Archives: Ron Miksha
Honey Bee Highways
Norway – the 2nd most liveable country in the world* – has yet another feather in its woolly cap. Or super on its hive, if you will. The Norwegians have a Honey Bee Highway. That’s a trail of flower pots … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Ecology, Friends, Honey Plants, Humour, Save the Bees
Tagged Earl Emde, Norway, Oslo, planting for bees, Polli the Pollinator
2 Comments
How Honey Bees Discovered Vaccines
Last week, the popular press was claiming that honey bees discovered vaccines millions of years before humans did. It makes great lead paragraphs for news stories, but the tale is slightly off the mark. Honey bees don’t have scientists. They … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Diseases and Pests
Tagged AFB, American Foulbrood, honey bees, immunization, vaccines, vitellogenin
3 Comments
Uncommon Ancestory
Creatures change with time. You might believe that God controls, guides, or designs those changes or you may have the opinion that random acts in the environment create mutations which change a species. The former idea is accepted by the … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Genetics, Science
Tagged bumblebees, common ancestry, DNA, evolution, honey bees
Leave a comment
Mr Holme’s Bees
Sherlock Holmes is more than an ordinary beekeeper – as you’ll find out in this summer’s new movie, Mr Holmes. I watched it at a Calgary theatre with my wife this evening. I’m glad we went. We don’t get out … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Movies, People
Tagged Ian McKellen, Mr Holmes, Sherlock Holmes, Ulee's Gold
2 Comments
Bees Prey at Church
In one of the most clever news headlines I have ever seen, editor Darcy Cheek of Ontario’s Recorder.ca writes: Honey bees go to Lyn church to prey. Any editor/reporter who can come up with a lede-line like that deserves mention. … Continue reading
Timeless
I was in England last week and saw some of the usual sights: Stonehenge, the Magna Carta at Salisbury Cathedral, King’s College along the river Cam, JRR Tolkien’s grave. To me, these represent timelessness. Tolkien, sleeping in eternity. The stones … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Culture, or lack thereof, Ecology, People, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged evolution, JRR Tolkien, Oxford, Stonehenge
Leave a comment
Drones Deliver Beer
Drones get no respect. If not accused of lounging around the hive, their mechanical doppelgängers get accused of corporate espionage because they spy into office windows. Finally, a people-friendly use for drones that makes sense. A Taiwanese brewery will use … Continue reading
A Bee Won’t Hurt You If . . .
The city of Edmonton, Alberta, is telling its citizens that bees are good. People sometimes forget. Not long ago, Obama was trying to calm screaming kids on the White House lawn when one child spotted a bee and dozens panicked. … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Ecology, Outreach, Stings
Tagged Edmonton, Medhat Nasr, Oneil Carlier, urban beekeeping, wasps
1 Comment
Plight of the Bumblebees
Forty years ago, near Florida’s Ocala National Forest, I took the photos seen in today’s blog. This is a bumblebee nest, accidentally uncovered and exposed on the forest floor, in the winter of 1974 in central Florida. You can see … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Climate, Ecology, Save the Bees
Tagged bumblebee, bumblebees, climate change, Florida, habitat loss, migration
4 Comments
Russian plane attacked by bees
The newspaper call it an attack. But we know better. The story being carried around the world yesterday is that a group of honey bees decided to attack a passenger plane (an Airbus-319, no less… that’s just a small step … Continue reading
Posted in Strange, Odd Stuff, Swarms
Tagged Airbus-319, honey bees, Moscow, Russia, St Petersburg
7 Comments
Bad Beekeeping Blog 