Where have all the bees gone?

Remember the song "Where have all the flowers gone?"  We could now be singing that about where have all the bees gone!  Have you heard of colony-collapse disorder or CCD as the apiologists refer to it?  Honey bees are dying in huge numbers, and considering how many of our foods they impact, it is very concerning.  We automatically think of honey, but these precious bees are also responsible for pollinating crops worth $200 billion a year.  So one of the projects adopted by the California DAR is to help researchers get to the bottom of bee colony collapse so the problem can be turned around.

Last month some friends and I drove up to the UC Davis Research Lab for a special program about CCD and so the DAR could present a check to UC Davis to help with their research.  The program was followed by a tour of the Haagen-Daz Honey Bee Haven which is a bee friendly garden where we could learn how to plant our own bee friendly gardens, and observed many species of bees.

 

 

 The photo I took at the top of this post is a honey bee, but below I captured a carpenter bee in flight  ~ they are large, black and glossy:

We learned so much from these little signs posted throughout the gardens, but there were also well-informed scientists with displays to explain things as well:

 

  A colony of live bees on display in the science building:

Beekeepers checking out some hives:

The picture below didn't turn out well as it was taken of a glossy poster on display ~ 

all I can say is no bee beard for me!

To learn more check out the UC Davis website:
http://beebiology.ucdavis.edu/