[ExI] bees again

[spike]

WOW a really good clue today was observed.

 

The general decline of honeybees has been documented nearly everywhere, but
there is no consensus on the cause.  Experts suggested parasites, viruses,
some new pesticide.  For a long time I have been leaning toward the notion
of some recently evolved internal parasite.  A couple months ago within a
span of a couple weeks, I found three dying bees, took them home, put them
in a sealed container.  None of the three had parasites.

 

After years of bee-watching, today I saw something I had never seen before.
Two bees together staggering around on the sidewalk with the familiar
symptoms, unable to fly, not aged visibly but rapidly declining.  The fact
that there are two right together, not near any hive or any wild swarm,
suggests to me a pesticide, since a homeowner could have sprayed the
flowers, two bees got in it and both ended up nearby dying on the sidewalk.


 

In retrospect, that house was the site where I have collected two other
dying bees, although not together at the same time.   So now I am leaning
toward the notion that the bee's decline may be pesticide linked.  Make
sense?

 

spike

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