great photos, Dirt! funny little bee

Zencat said:Your pictures are great! Do bees get tipsy?

No they don't. I recall reading an experiment that was done on the subject. They fed them wine, they didn't get drunk - it has something to do with their stomach or some such - so the researchers did something -- I can't recall exactly how they did it - injection maybe? -- to MAKE them get drunk. They got tipsy & the guards at the hive just gently said no, you don't get to enter the hive in this state and kept gently pushing them back keeping them from entering the hive but not harming them in any manner. When the tipsy bees were no longer under the influence the hive guards allowed them to enter the hive.
I'm so hazy on the exact details b/c I read this research probably 35 years ago.

I've always wondered about the drunk looking bees I see on occasion. It has to have been something else. I have found them...sleeping? Somnolent?

Probably old. Well, they do have to rest too but the major cause of death in bees is just flat out working themselves to death. And who knows what pesticides are affecting them.

So very, very true. I have seen an increase in honeybees the last couple of years. I have been trying to help them by planting things they like.

Believe it or not Some scieniss are actuallly celebrating the downfall of the honeybee. Why because they put pressure on native bees by taking away food/ect. honeybees are not native to ANY part of the us. they were brought over. Just something I read.


A honey bee will not pollionate in bad weather a bumblebee will.


note i think all bees are impotent just some more than others.

Plantsmylove said:
note i think all bees are impotent just some more than others.

While the worker bees are sterile, the queen is not, nor are the drones. Interestingly, she mates in the first week or two of her life with drones from another hive and the eggs that get fertilized on this trip out last her entire life - up to four years.

Who knew?

maybe omnipotent? I kinda worship all of the pollinators...

No, no, important!

We are here in the 'beehive state'--we have lots of backyard honey bees in this area as well as full scale hives for the fruit orchards and other crops, plus the odd hives out in the sagebrush

Our gardens are visited by many bees, both the imported honey bee varieties as well as the many natives. Aside from the warm/dry winter we just had with vary scarce resources for all of them that didn't 'hibernate' so well, I can't say as I can appreciate a situation *here* where the resources are so scarce that the honey bees take them away from the natives.

Interestingly, they all seem to find their niches very well and I love to see the long tongue bumblers on the echies and the short tongues on the origanum and the thread-waist wasps on the solidago and the honey bees on the sedum and the mason bees all over the catmint--for example, when I take a stroll to see who is where on a given afternoon, which is not to say that I don't see a lot of sharing too.
In terms of 'sharing', though, some of the natives are pretty aggressive moving the honey bees out of their way...like those cute furry digger bees, dang!

Dirt, I so agree with you. We have leafcutter bees and I see more of them and others than I do the honeys.

Cool! it's one of those green metallic bees! Those are so neat

Yes, and he was big too. I just love that metallic look. I looked it up & it's an Orchid bee.

any idea what this is?

a couple years ago these were all over my purple smoke tree, and they seemed to be eating the new leaf buds--then they were gone. The tree recovered (and is still trying to eat my house), but I wasn't to happy to see this guy or the dang thrips hanging out in the background there either

Not a clue Dirt but it seems I recently saw someone had posted something similar. ????? I'm foggy on where exactly. Will have to ponder where I saw that. It sort of looks like a cloisonné piece doesn't it?

Dirt if you haven't already, post it on the buf ID forum you will definitly get an ID http://garden.org/forums/view/...

A variation of Leaf Beetle? Glad they're gone.

I read this in the paper yesterday, don't know if it is only here or in the States too, good news for the butterflies and bees.
-

Art Knapp Plantland has told it's suppliers they will no longer accept nursery plants treated with neonicotinoids, a controversial class of pesticides linked to honey bee mortality. "We are ensuring that we don't purchase anything that contains neonics" .

Home Depot has pledged to label plants treated with the neonic pesticides.

Canadian Tire declined to answer directly when asked if their plant suppliers use neonics or if treated plants would be labelled.
----

Guess I won't be buying any plants from Canadian Tire!

Boxelderbugbutt

neato picture of bug butt

I am not familiar with Canadian Tire
wiki says... Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited is a Canadian retail company which sells a wide range of automotive, sports and leisure, and home products.
I guess I won't have to worry about accidentally purchasing any plants from them

so I have it as a Cryptocephalus of some kind but I don't know which kind

I wish they were gone--they appear to be back

and here are a couple of my friends at dusk

Cool Bug, Dirt.

Canadian Tire sets up a greenhouse in the spring and they sell a lot of plants, shrubs and trees at reasonable prices.