don't
worry
bee
happy
A few weeks ago, I was excited to find this bee tree in the hinterlands of my property. When I walked the trail that runs behind my barn and range, I would ease up to it, peek inside, and stand still while dozens of bees went back and forth ignoring me. The number of flights was amazing. Standing there in the bee flight line was like being on I-75 in Atlanta at night as plane after plane descends towards the airport .. only faster and buzzier.
The bee hive was located inside a knothole whose opening was canted up. Apparently, the droughty summer allowed the bees to be successful with this less than ideal weather protection until ...
w
o
r
r
y
... the rains came. The view above is looking inside the knothole. The bees are gone and I am assuming it was because of the last two weeks of almost daily ,very heavy afternoon showers. Some were intensely tropical rains and the faulty roof of this nest probably allowed the hive to flood.
This all happened before Tropical Bipolar Storm Ernesto, who did not give us any rain as it slid to the east.
I'm hoping the bees survived to swarm off to a better tree.
9 comments:
That is such a shame! Bees are already so rare...or at least honey bees. Sorry that you lost them.
Bummer man, no honey!
Hey, I gave you some more information about the static spark and the mechanism for the difference between hazards of plastic vs metal gas cans. I don't know why I didn't add it to this more recent post, but I added it back to the list of comments on the original post of yours. Sorry, it will make a bit more work for you to go find it!
Those bees are amazing. I love their little jackets.
Awww! The poor bees!
Ernesto may have been stingy with you, but we are catching it up here in NC. We are sitting between a stationary front just to our north and Ernesto moving up from the south. The result has been torrential rains and some pretty spectacular thunderstorms. There has been flooding in the county I work in, but none so far in my home county.
OMG I love your blog and the fantastic pictures! :)
I'd love to find a bee tree in my woods. Too bad your bees didn't stick around, but with some comb already in there, perhaps some new swarm will take up residence.
Forgive me for a blanket response, but the pace of life here is intruding on my blog time. That's why you may have noticed my absence from most of your excellent blogs. Emma kicked me off my computer last night so she could type up some note cards for a class. Then Jr needed it for some research. Last night was open house at school so I didn't get home late...
...and the dog ate my homework.
I will check out some nearby dead trees to see if this hive moved locally.
roger,
beelieve me i try.
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