A recent clip from the British quiz show QI:
Posts under ‘Bees’
January shouldn’t be this warm
I can’t believe it’s January 5th. We should be beset by howling winds of the frigid tundra here in central Illinois. Instead, it’s warm enough that my backyard beehives are buzzing. Here’s a photo from just now:
Did a parasitic fly cause Colony Collapse in bees?
The science media is buzzing (ha, ha) with tales of a new honey bee parasite, Apocephalus borealis, and its potential involvement in Colony Collapse. For example: Parasitic flies that turn honeybees into night-flying zombies could provide another clue to cracking the mystery of colony collapse disorder. Since 2007, thousands of hives in the US have been [...]
How to tell the difference between honey bees and bumble bees
If one taxonomic error is repeated in the media more than any other, it is the inability to distinguish between honey bees, Apis mellifera, and bumble bees, about 250 species in the genus Bombus. Such errors are frustratingly common for insects that should be easy to recognize. Here, for example, is a recent story that mistakes a bumble [...]
Sunday Night Movie: QI on new species & honey bees
Comedians holding forth on biodiversity: [source: QI] Entertainers are not, generally speaking, the best source of biology knowledge. But the point about novel species lurking in our gardens is quite true.
The Bee Dance Language Explained (At Last!)
I’m grading final exams for my summer beekeeping class, and the stack included this gem: The question is worth 4 points. Discuss.
Announcing a New Gallery at Alex Wild Photography: Honey Bees & Beekeeping
Over the summer I have been quietly creating a collection of photos related to beekeeping. Many of the photos are new and feature the IB 496 Bee class I’m currently teaching. Go see! Honey Bees & Beekeeping Pictures
A cover photograph
Michael Bush is a leading figure in the treatment-free beekeeping movement, and for his new book he chose one of my queen bee photographs. I’m agnostic on the use of synthetic chemicals in beekeeping- I think they are overused but don’t hold any a priori objections to them- but Bush’s extensive and personable website is a fount [...]
Thrifty Thursday
Thrifty Thursdays feature photographs taken with equipment costing less than $500. [Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3] Small cameras like the Pananic Lumix DMC-ZS3 achieve macro not through magnification per se, but by allowing the optics to focus close to the front element. An insect sitting right next to a small lens will appear large in the resulting [...]
A personal weblog by Illinois-based biologist and photographer Alex Wild.
