Tag Archives: bumblebees
Podcast: The Bees’ Ears
Our latest podcast rambles around the bees’ ears. Available everywhere you grab your podcasts. Enjoy. Season 1 Episode 4: About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – The Bees’ Ears In this episode, we discover that insects, including bees, can hear. They … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Culture, or lack thereof, History, Podcasts, Pollination, Science, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged bee anatomy, bumblebees, honey bees, Pollination
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Blue and Green in the Flower Patch
Good scientists do their best to remove bias from their observations and experiments. Statistical methods such as blocking, double-blind trials, use of appropriate controls, and randomization are among their key tools. Results are suspect when hypotheses are designed after data … Continue reading
Not the only bees in town
Although my life has centred on honey bees, I realize that they are not the only bee species in town. Here in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, we have about 200 species of bees – from giant bumble bees to rather petite … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Ecology, Friends, Native Bees, Outreach
Tagged Alberta, bumblebees, Calgary
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Icelandic Bees
Iceland is more than spectacular volcanoes, ground quakes and rupturing continents. It has bees, too. Some say that the first founder bumble bee blew in with the wind. Others think that Iceland’s first bumble bee hitched a ride aboard a … Continue reading
Pollinator Week 2019
In the past three or four years, I began to notice that honey bees aren’t the only bees in the world. What a surprise! There are over 20,000 other versions. Some as big as elephants, some as small as pin … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Ecology, Outreach, Pollination
Tagged bumblebees, National Pollination Week, Pollination, pollinators
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Bees learn to drive tiny cars
I wouldn’t believe this if I had seen it with my own eyes! Sam Droege, bee scientist extraordinaire, has a USGS Flickr website populated with great bee photographs. Last week, somewhere around April first, Sam posted the results of some … Continue reading
Posted in Humour, Native Bees, Science, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged bee photography, bumblebees, Sam Droege
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David Attenborough and the tired bumblebee
Back in July, I posted about some cute stories which were filling social media. Vignettes described people rescuing tired, hungry-looking (how can you tell?) bumblebees by giving them a spoonful of sugar water. I have reposted that July blog piece … Continue reading
Bees on Ice
So much has happened in the weeks since my last post: I started an MSc (in bee ecology); my son and I pulled our honey crop; I presented a talk at the first-ever United Beekeepers of Alberta conference; I began … Continue reading
Prolonging the sweet taste
Most nectar-supping insects land on a flower, take a bit of nectar, then fly off. But bees are different. They hang around the flower, sometimes gorging for ten seconds or more, if there’s enough nectar. Why the difference? Scientists think … Continue reading
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