San Francisco Bee-Cause

Thanks Lisa! The newly-hatched bee is light colored with her plumose hairs still flat against her body. She will need a few days for her exo-skeleton to harden and cannot sting until after that. She will then progress in her status as a "house bee" through various tasks over the next 2-3 weeks until she graduates to "forager" status. The foraging period also lasts for 2-3 weeks during which this bee will pretty much work herself to death seeking out and brining back into th...e hive the essentials for their life: (1) Pollen (proteins, fats, vitamins & minerals), (2) Nectar (carbohydrates) which they dehydrate into "honey", (3) Water and (4) propolis (sticky resin from woody shrubs and trees that provide some anti-bacterial protections within the hive. The "hive" is the cavity structure within which a family of honey bees live, raising young and storing food; typically they have the same mother queen but different fathers. The "colony" is the family of honey bees living with the hive. See more

Learn about various types of bees so you can be on the lookout for them once the weather warms up and the blooming begins!

Just as bees help biodiversity, it appears that biodiversity helps bees beyond providing them with a diverse diet.

BEEKEEPING APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM APPLICATION WINDOW IS OPEN. San Francisco Bee-Cause is accepting Applications through February 13 --for our upcoming 2021-2023 Two-Year Beekeeping Apprenticeship Program: https://www.sfbeecause.com/apprenticeship. Our Program offers a unique opportunity to learn beekeeping in a group environment. It has no upfront cost other than buying your own beekeeping protective clothing, tools and book. Honey bee health and ethical stewardship are... the objectives for our beekeeping. If you think you might be interested, please read the comprehensive description of our Program. If you can honestly make the two-year commitments, please apply no later than February 13. And please pass this post along to any person or group whose members may be interested.

This Spring, when you encounter a flower of the Clarkia species, take a close look at the anthers and see what puzzled Darwin!

Wow -- mining with no negative impacts on the environment! We just hope that those "in the know" of the location don't get greedy and begin mining (and, thus, destroy) this area.

Debunked (thus far): No evidence that beekeepers (who tend to get stung off and on) have immunity against COVID-19.

Learn how honey bee communication through dance was discovered.

Climate change: The fact that honey bee workers can find flowers blooming on T-day 2020 (note the pollen on the legs of some workers), and the fact that this small nucleus colony is producing drones. Will it be an early 2021 swam season in SF? Probably.

Interesting news!

Good news for local beekeepers and their honey bee colonies.

What a great idea. And it can be duplicated.

Wow - these creatures never cease to amaze with respect to nature and humans.

Festoon: A lacework of honey bees hanging together like a garland doing so to plan making new wax comb. - Honey and Pollination Center, Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, University of California, Davis

These worker bumble bees sure are having fun rolling around! Q: Why are they doing this? A: To get the residual pollen grains stuck onto the hairs of their bodies. Later, they will groom those pollen grains, mixing the grains with a bit of nectar, so the grains will adhere together in a clump on the bees' pollen basket (aka "corbicula") on each hind leg. They will add to the clumps and, eventually, will return to their colony's nest, offload these pollen pellets which are used as food to raise young.

What is good or bad for the bees is similarly good or bad for people.

Some of our favorite fruits are impacted.

Another miracle of bees unveiled ...

Want to know about "California’s Efforts to Restore and Protect Pollinator Populations"? Attend this FREE webinar tomorrow, Thursday, June 25, 2020 @ 10-11:30 a.m. PT. The webinar will feature a panel of experts discussing pollinators in California’s agricultural and native ecosystems. Click on the link below to get to the registration page.

What are you doing this week, our 2020 National Pollinator Week? At least go outside and watch the flowers, bees and birds and remember how wonderful they all are!

It is always concerning when scientists or industry comes up with a solution to replace pollinators. It is worrisome to think about replacing a function nature has provided for free over millions of years of evolution of flowering plants and pollinators. Spending time and money on habitat conservation to help pollinators survive and prosper would seem to provide results with wide-ranging benefits -- to the pollinators, to the land, to other living beings like beneficial inse...cts and birds and, even, us. Unanswered questions that arise from reading this article include the following. Q: Where to you get the fine grains of pollen to be suspended in the bubble solution? By hand harvesting? By stealing pollen from honey bees via pollen traps placed on their hive entrances? Q: And once collected, how is it preserved and prepared before use? Pollen degrades quickly once collected from a flower which is why honey and native bees make "bee bread". As they store the collected pollen, they mix it with some nectar so it becomes a dense paste, called "bee bread". The addition of nectar helps preserve the pollen but also begins some fermentation which breaks down the pollen cuticle so nutrients within are more accessible to the bees and their progeny. Perhaps it also serves as a probiotic for the bees (?). I suspect we would not get answers to these questions based on the concept of "proprietary secrets".

Wow! We've learned that bees see in ultraviolet. But, apparently, hummingbirds see even more other colors we cannot.