[ExI] bees again

[MB]

spike wrote:
> The story mentions the A. borealis was found in bees in every county in the
> SF bay area except Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.  I live in Santa
> Clara, so I decided to collect dying bees to see if A. borealis larvae
> emerge.  The first experiment concluded two weeks ago with an apparent
> negative: that one was a bumblebee.  On the way back from my son's school
> today we found a dying honeybee, so experiment number 2 commences.
>

That's very interesting. I hope Isaac can appreciate the post-mortem examinations.
:)  It would have been nice if a grownup had taken time to do things like that with
me.

We have had unseasonably warm weather here, and some spring flowers are blooming.
These are flowers that usually are filled with bees - early flowers are limited in
number. So far this season I've seen *one* honeybee and several tiny native bees.
The honeybee seemed confused by the flowers and did not appear to actually go into a
bloom while I was watching, but circled and hovered and circled some more. :( The
natives unhesitatngly went in there to do their thing. :)

Regards,
MB