Laughing, some got up to 35 petals. it really was fun to follow.

I read in our newspaper yesterday about a parasitic fly called Apocephalus borealis that infects honeybees, wasps and bumblebees. It implants eggs in the abdomen of the bees, as the larvae grows it affects the bee's normal behavior making it nocturnal and finally killing it. Poor little bees, they become Zom-bees..

I guess that is not unlike the parasitic fly that implants it's egg in the butterfly caterpillars. Sad to know.

... Poor little bees, they become Zom-bees...

HA!

Okay, well..... seeing as honey bees are *not* indigenous to the U.S., I guess we'll have to keep on investing in our myriad of other pollinators. I'm guessing this was bound to happen.

Probably so.

Bummer. So what next? The US will import something that plants eggs in abdomen of the parasitic fly to kill it & then we'll have some other problem down the road with that "fix".

You learn something every day. I didn't know these things :o(

Ann,
You got that right

Well, it seems that we're not much for "letting things be", are we?

I guess earth worms aren't native, either. Whodda thunk?

It may be sunny but still quite cool outdoors..saw this lonesome bee on our stucco today:



closer look:

Hi Tarev Nice photo. It's sunny and a bit cool but warm enough for our bees to be out and foraging like crazy today.
Looks like they are on schedule for filling those frames up with honey and pollen for the babies now.

Finally a break in our late winter-like rains ..and saw these bees and butterfly happily enjoying the blooms at our common area:

Lovely phots tarev I'm jealous LOL it's so hard for me to catch them

Thanks Margaret I keep missing my focus at times too But it sure was fun seeing them..makes Spring really alive,fun and colorful!

Just got some more bee photos..they are back once again today on that blooming tree, they just love hovering and pollinating this lucky tree

Now you have me wondering what kind of tree it is.Great pictures.

Someone said it looks like a Bradford pear tree.

Oh yes, they love those. I don't have one but a neighbor does and they were all over his.

sheryl said:

HA!

Okay, well..... seeing as honey bees are *not* indigenous to the U.S., I guess we'll have to keep on investing in our myriad of other pollinators. I'm guessing this was bound to happen.

I thought the honeybees were indigenous to the US!

No they aren't; they are indigenous to Europe and other countries. The bumble bee is indigenous to the US though.