[TN-Bird] [Fwd: Y-T Vireo, other early migrants] -- Bees

Yes, sadly, we lost the vast majority (over 90% in some parts of the
country) of our wild honeybees, Apis mellifera, over the past decade to
tracheal and Varroa mites, the bulk of them by about 1996. Until we
breed/build the "better bee" (at least with respect to their ability to
combat these parasites), most of us will only encounter them when we're
near someone's bee yard or a field or orchard being deliberately
pollinated with trucked-in bees (the mites can be held at bay with the
well-controlled use of miticides, hive-by-hive). The up side to this is
that the 2 mites seem to have slowed the advance of the Africanized
("killer") bee. And the bumblebee and solitary bee populations seem to
have expanded, at least in my area.

I still remember standing off to the side during a birding trip with
Jeff Wilson and company several years ago, transfixed and with tears in
my eyes as I beheld something that has become, in my experience, more
precious than hummingbird eggs -- a honeybee. Nobody else got excited at
all -- lucky are the folks who live in heavily agricultural regions
where commercial apiaries are crucial for pollination services. In my
area, the only way I'm going to see more than a fistful of A. mellifera
per year is to buy some hive bodies and start back into beekeeping
again. My eventual goal is 20 hives and a million bees so that I might
once more live in Yeats' "bee-loud glade."

Liz Singley
Kingston TN


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [TN-Bird] Y-T Vireo, other early migrants
Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2003 09:57:53 -0500
From: John Devereux Joslin <jdjoslin@xxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: jdjoslin@xxxxxxxxx
To: TN-Bird <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>


Early migrants are really starting to roll in.  On a 2-mile stretch of
the N. Boundary Trail (Oak Ridge DOE Res.-Roane County) I heard my first
YELLOW-THROATED WARBLERS (5), a small flood of BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHERS
(7), and my first NORTHERN PARULA (1).  But the real surprise of the day
was an early YELLOW-THROATED VIREO.
    Interestingly, none of these were singing between 7:00 and 7:45
(except the vireo) and all were singing between 8 and 8:30.  It was a
little cool (50?) at 7:30 with the sun up and certainly warmer (near
60?) by 8:30.  Could that small temperature difference make that much
difference in singing activity?
    Another question/observation:  Has any else notice a near absence of
bees to pollinate all these flowers.  I really miss that background buzz
and worry about plants getting pollinated.

Dev Joslin
Oak Ridge, TN



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