Totally unscientific bee population survey results:
Number of foraging honeybees on an average sunny day: About average
Number of dead or dead tired honeybees found in flowers or otherwise away from the hive: More than I remember seeing in years gone by (usually none) but not as many as last year. These are some images from the last couple of weeks. The bees on the hollyhock and the coreopsis are dead; the one on the artemisia was weak and trembling.
The latest information I could find on colony collapse disorder research is this article at the USDA agricultural research service. I know, this is the government we're talking about, but hopefully someone there has enough of a grasp on science left to figure this thing out. Scroll down the article and check out the photo of the bee with a varoa mite on its back.
2 comments:
I just posted a picture of a dead bee on a flower, too. It's kind of sad when they die alone, still trying to do their jobs till the very end.
It's hard to imagine a honeybee's psychic life if they have one: first they are contained within the density of the hive then when old enough they must venture far from the familiar hive and alone in search of food. I guess it's silly but I do feel sad every time I see one of these lone dead ones.
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