PeoplesElbow
Well-Known Member
My yard has been absolutely full of bumble bees lately. Anyone else got lots of them?
Bumble Bees
- Thread starter PeoplesElbow
- Start date
Same.
NorthBeachPerso
Honorary SMIB
In this part of Calvert, well if I'm truthful most of the County, it's not bumble bees I watch for but bumblers. It's always a good day when someone reports the yellow pollen in a puddle as Anthrax (yes, that happens every year).
PeoplesElbow
Well-Known Member
Carpenter bees don't visit flowers do they?
I have had those chew into my mailbox post before.
NorthBeachPerso
Honorary SMIB
Yes they do. In fact they're fairly important pollinators.
The Eastern Carpenter Bee: Beneficial Pollinator or Unwelcome Houseguest?
The eastern carpenter bee, Xylocopa virginica, is a native pollinator found throughout eastern North America, as far south as Florida and Texas and north into Maine and southern Canada.
extension.psu.edu
PeoplesElbow
Well-Known Member
Hmm I better have a good look at them then.Yes they do. In fact they're fairly important pollinators.
The Eastern Carpenter Bee: Beneficial Pollinator or Unwelcome Houseguest?
The eastern carpenter bee, Xylocopa virginica, is a native pollinator found throughout eastern North America, as far south as Florida and Texas and north into Maine and southern Canada.
Saw my first one a few weeks ago. A bit of Native American lore I learned as a kid, is to the effect that when you see your first bumblebee, it means the bears are coming out of hibernation.
I have noticed that they like the flowers on my oregano plants, and the blueberry blossoms.
We have a few kohlrabi that we allowed to winter over. They are blooming right now with the prettiest little yellow flowers. Those flowers are full of bumblebees and a few honey bees.
PeoplesElbow
Well-Known Member
Upon inspection they are carpenter bees.
I haven't seen a honey bee around here in a long time. When I was a kid the clover in the yard was covered in honey bees, I stepped on quite a few, little f'ers sting when you step on them.
I haven't seen a honey bee around here in a long time. When I was a kid the clover in the yard was covered in honey bees, I stepped on quite a few, little f'ers sting when you step on them.
NorthBeachPerso
Honorary SMIB
Honeybees should be on the Endangered Species list. They've been disappearing for at least a decade and a half from a couple known reasons and from a couple of very educated guesses.
https://www.epa.gov/pollinator-protection/colony-collapse-disorder
The mystery of vanishing honeybees is still not definitively solved
The case has never been fully closed for colony collapse disorder, and now bees face bigger problems.
www.sciencenews.org
PeoplesElbow
Well-Known Member
They can't disappear, to me this is way more important than anything people care about today.Honeybees should be on the Endangered Species list. They've been disappearing for at least a decade and a half from a couple known reasons and from a couple of very educated guesses.
https://www.epa.gov/pollinator-protection/colony-collapse-disorder
The mystery of vanishing honeybees is still not definitively solved
The case has never been fully closed for colony collapse disorder, and now bees face bigger problems.
Blister
Well-Known Member
That's not funny. I've been infected with Anthrax 19, 5 times during the pandemics.
black dog
Free America
Did it hurt?
NextJen
Raisin cane
This is why I no longer use fertilizer or weed killers - except the epsom salt and vinegar recipe. When the bees are gone we’re in deep doo-doo.
LightRoasted
If I may ...
If I may ...
Just blame the farmer, local and commercial. They are responsible for using the chemicals that interrupt the honey bees physiology causing them to die. And that is a fact.
PeoplesElbow
Well-Known Member
I thought the chemicals being blamed had been used for a good while before colony collapse disorder became a thing?
LightRoasted
If I may ...
If I may ...
As with anything unnatural introduced into the environment, it takes a while for its effects to materialize. It begins with one thing, and then the cumulative addition of others, over time, compound, until, disaster. It is the law of unintended consequences in action. Also, in this case, greed.
Clem72
Well-Known Member
Tons of these guys. I hope it's because my house has is on a wooded lot and not because they are nesting somewhere eating my house out from under me.