A report in Wednesday's edition of the journal PLoS ONE, claims that researchers have found a combination of a virus and a fungus that they believe is responsible for the massive losses of our honey bees.
The other catastrophic issue here is pollination, as bees are responsible for a major share of crop pollination in this country, and a good portion of the none-crop flowering plants as well...including century plants, barrel cactus, prickly pear, etc. Additionally some of them are pollinated by bats, hummingbirds, moths, butterflies and flies. There are concerns for these other pollinators...that whatever is causing problems with the honey bee population, may next be seen in these other populations.
Some strange efforts have been made to assist in the pollination of our crops, like the Beamer Bee...genetically created...You be the judge, it this real or just a pipe dream.
Birds: If you don't have the pigeon bug, you will never understand...if you have it, you can never get enough of pigeons. What new threat is out there for our avian friends, much like CCD for the bees, could be Pigeon Circovirus.
Honey: The majority of this post is dedicated to the loss of honey bees and the pollination of crops and flowers...honey is really just a bi-product, and a tasty one.
We have a Hebe border around the front of our property during the summer months it is usually an audio buzz from the bees. Not this year. While we had bees the numbers were significantly less. I considered putting bee hotels in my trees... except two chain trees does not a fruit orchard make.
ReplyDeleteCele, I was hoping for a comment on the Beamer Bees...
ReplyDeleteAnother sad thought, if we lost the bees, we might loose the crops, flowers and most of our food sources.
We would lose a lot of tastey fruits and veggies and, yes, honey. I remember sharing this very fact with the kids I taught art to. We talked about bees and why stepping on them or smashing them would take away some of their favorite (non-tastey grocery store) foods. Kids don't see the connection between bees and food items. They'll sing in agreement that honey is wonderful! But they'll also be the first to find a honey bee and rips it's wings off! Such wonderful creatures, are they? Kids, I mean.
ReplyDeleteI have considered putting up bee boxes for them to make their "homes" in because, like my father, I have noticed a decline in honey bees, especially this year. I take a look around this town and think, NO WONDER! Folks don't keep flowers anymore. Also, any wild flower that blooms meets its demise with the tractor mower.
I've read, forgive me for not having my references at this point, that in China there are actually workers who go out into fields and manually pollinate the flowers with Q-tips. (My mom has witnessed this during her many trips to China).
Needless to say, I think we're going to find out that 1) we need to become more self-reliant, 2) Communities need to become more self-reliant, and 3) If we do not learn those skills now then we'll be the next in line to be added to the Endangered Species list...which I'm certain some of you would die to see that happen. =D
Thanks, I like your perspective!
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked it!
ReplyDeleteI love humming birds and have recently got within a foot of a prickly pear cactus and it shot about 100 quills into my lose fitting jeans with only one making it through to my leg which made me a little light headed.My question is are prickly pear cactus a threat to humming birds when they visit it's flowers? My Father has allot of these growing on his property and allot of humming birds visit his feeders. Thank you ! ! !
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of prickly pear cactus "shooting" spines, cholla cactus has been called jumping cactus, because it breaks off so easy it seems to jump onto your clothing as you walk by, but it truly does require some contact.
ReplyDeletePrickly Pear Cactus form a large part of the humming bird diet while passing through during migration, so I wouldn't think there would be a problem. And if your father has feeders, the humming birds will stay around as long as there is a good food source.
Tell your father to try leaving out some sweet fruit (ie: bananas) to attract fruit flies...this is also a great source of protein for the humming birds, and it is pretty awesome to see them hovering over the fruit and picking of the fruit flies one by one.