By Catherine Haug, May 5, 2018 (Photo, right, from Bug Guide (5))
I’ve written many posts about the plight of bees, and how to help our native mason bees by providing homes for them. But I’ve not written much about these amazing animals. I hope to correct that by bringing your attention to an article by a British blogger, Clive Harris, who requested I provide a link to his post: The Ultimate Guide to British Bees: How to Protect Their Declining Population (1). While he writes from Britain, we have many of the same bees including honey bees, bumblebees and other ground-dwelling bees, and mason bees. He also goes into a lot of detail about bees:
- An amazing video about the waggle dance;
- How do bees make honey and beeswax?
- How do bees help the garden?
- What’s the difference between bees and wasps?
- 4 things you can do to help bees.
His is a long post, but full of lots of great information – share with your kids/grandkids! See Reference (1), below.
Below I include:
- 3 videos about the waggle dance, and how scientists discovered it’s meaning;
- List of prior articles on The EssentiaList about bees, including John Holbrook’s articles on mason bees and bee motels;
- References
Waggle Dance Videos
Here’s the link to the 2-minute waggle dance video, featuring Professor Adam Hart, included in Clive’s article (2):
And related videos
Smithsonian, 2 minutes (3):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU_KD1enR3Q
Georgia Tech 7 minutes (4). This one provides the most detail about how the meaning of the dance was discovered, and how the bees get the information for their dance:
Other ESP articles about bees:
- Dicamba pesticide for GMO crops causing trouble for trees and bees (10/24/17)
- Honey bees vs pesticides; Boom in organics; Monsanto Tribunal (7/26/17)
- A Healing Garden – for You and Bees (2/10/14)
- What is killing bees? (8/13/13)
- Neonicotinoids – devastating pesticide behind loss of honey bees (5/5/13)
- Update on Honeybees and Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) (4/2/13)
- The Plight of the Bumblebee (3/18/13)
- Pledge for Honeybees (2/28/12)
- Keeping Bees (6/25/11)
- Julienne’s Bees (4/20/11)
- More on Bees & Other Pollinators (3/21/10) NOTE: John Holbrook, who did a presentation for us and is referenced in this posting as a source of Mason bee motels, is no longer with us. See the links to his articles, below.
- Mason Bee Motels for 2010; updated Mar 6 (3/6/10)
- Honeybees (4/15/09)
- Honeybees & Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), a Video (3/31/09)
- Native Mason Bee Motels/Hotels/Condos (3/29/09)
- Honeybees in the Ecosystem: Event Summary (3/16/09)
Links to John Holbrook’s articles on mason bees and bee motels:
- John Holbrook: Orchard Mason Bees (John’s original file of bee facts and bee motel construction)
- “Your Orchard Mason Bee Block” (2010 update of his original file; includes sketch of attaching hardware cloth or chicken wire to keep out birds)
- Construction of Bee Blocks for Orchard Mason Bees (more info on construction of bee motels; also includes sketch of attaching hardware cloth or chicken wire to keep out birds)
A great debt of gratitude is owed to John who dedicated the latter years of his life to protecting bees. Thank you, John.
Links to other articles on protecting and helping bees:
- upgardener.co.uk/protecting-british-bees/; Note: Britain has many bee species that we do not have in the USA, but protecting and helping them, no matter where they are, is important.
References
- The Ultimate Guide to British Bees: How to Protect Their Declining Population by Clive Harris: https://diygarden.co.uk/wildlife/ultimate-guide-to-bees/
- Prof. Adam Hart’s video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12Q8FfyLLso
- Smithsonian video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU_KD1enR3Q
- Georgia Tech video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFDGPgXtK-U
- Bug Guide photo: http://bugguide.net/node/view/3080
Tags: bees