Let It Bee

Really, bees just want to be left to bee living; hunting around for honey and pollinating the universe.

Unfortunately, we humans have not been letting it bee and that is the trouble with bees these days. We have been mucking around with their habitat, spraying stuff that is making them sneeze, clearing out their homesteads, making them “buzz off” in search of new homes instead of getting down to the side business of pollinating while scrounging around for the main event in their bee sort of way, flitting about for honey deep inside the bowels of local flora. Bees are subtly letting us know by dropping off in population giving “to bee or not to bee” a whole new meaning.

These little buzzers take the moniker “busy as a bee” seriously. However, they are so busy, they don’t have time to spread the word about what important pollinators they. Furthermore, the alarm is not just being raised about honey bees (colony – collapse disorder, oh my!). After all, we might be able to get along without a little honey and a few dozen crops that these bees pollinate, but wild bees play the important role of ensuring natural habitats maintain a balance of floral representation. Now scientists are the busy ones, trying to catch up with bees, figuring out how important these flighty fuzzballs are and why some are in population decline. With over 800 species of bees in Canada (yes, 800! who knew?) there is a lot to learn.

For other articles on this subject:

http://blog.nwf.org/2013/05/in-the-buzz-about-bees-dont-forget-the-natives/?s_email_id=20130525_MEM_ENG_WLO_May_Edition|

http://www.natureconservancy.ca/en/feature-stories/planning-for-polllinators.html

©HeatherSimonds, Lavender Bee

©HeatherSimonds, Bee Embedded In Thistle

©HeatherSimonds, A Bee Working The Flora

©HeatherSimonds, Bees and Other Insects Compete For Flavour

©HeatherSimonds, Bumblebees Pollinate As They Patrol Flora