Category Archives: Ecology
Naturally Imperfect
This might be old stuff to you, but our local grocer has started selling imperfect apples. It’s about time. My kids, who are properly brain-washed, love the smallish bruised apples and understand that these specially priced (Cheaper!) fruits are better … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Ecology, Pesticides, Save the Bees
Tagged apples, imperfection, perfection
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Bees on a Caffeine Buzz
Video: Dr Couvillon shows that caffeine tricks honeybees into working harder. It seems bees may suffer from the same drowsy morning moods and weary fatigued afternoons as their human cousins. And it may be similarly cured with a … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Ecology, Honey Plants, Pollination
Tagged bee communication, bee foraging, caffeine, coffee
3 Comments
Thistle Bumblebees
Although I have mentioned many times that honey bees are not going extinct (there are actually more kept hives of honey bees today than 10 years ago), I am concerned about wild and native species of bees. Loss of habitat, … Continue reading
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
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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
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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
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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
Dandy Season
A few weeks ago, I wrote that spring had arrived and pollen (plus a little nectar) was coming into the hives – mostly from willow and crocus. I also wrote that the main spring flow here in western Canada (along … Continue reading
What’s wrong with this picture?
To celebrate spring, Google’s Doodle uses an artsy little bumblebee disturbing some pretty flowers. As a beekeeper I am always happy to see bee thingies, but I wish that such artists would consider a wee dab of natural science in … Continue reading
Beehives vs Drunken Elephants
Drunken elephants have been a problem for as long as I can remember. Elephants are known to booze-up, get rowdy, and attack farmers – sometimes even entire villages. A herd of elephants got drunk on rice beer in Assam, India, … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Yards, Ecology, Hives and Combs, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged beehive fence, elephants, Lucy King, Save the Elephants
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Bad Beekeeping Blog 