RE: [BABA] Abridged summary of boston-beekeepers-club@googlegroups.com - 2 updates in 1 topic

[wsp2]

Thanks Noah, thanks Mark -- I used binoculars to watch for bees on blooms on silver and red maples four days ago.  Not only were there no bees during 30 minutes of observation (sunny, around noon, and not so cold that bees from a hive less than 200 feet from both trees were flying vigorously), but there were no insects of any kind.  

Checked again yesterday mid-afternoon.  The red maples had several honeybees on them gathering pollen (maybe 25 per tree), as well as a few flies darting around, but the silvers still had nothing.  No insects.  SOMEHOW they pollinate; in several weeks their seeds will twirl away by the millions.  

I'll check again at different times of day (ie. perhaps silver maple nectar and/or pollen is more abundant later in the afternoon?)  Perhaps the absence of bees is simply that their populations are still quite low.  There aren't nearly as many bees flying now than there will be by late spring.  Also, it's likely other plants are providing more copious and easily gather-able resources.

Oh, do the reds provide nectar too?  Nibbled on a bud and found a sweet spot, so I'd guess yes, but will keep watching.  Apparently bees don't collect pollen and nectar simultaneously.

--Bill

Bill Perkins

617-388-7378

-------- Original message --------

From: boston-beek...@googlegroups.com

Date: 3/25/21 7:35 AM (GMT-05:00)

To: Abridged recipients <boston-beek...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: [BABA] Abridged summary of boston-beek...@googlegroups.com - 2 updates in 1 topic

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• Maples blooming - 2 Updates

Maples blooming

"noah.m...@gmail.com" <noah.m...@gmail.com>: Mar 24 06:29PM -0700 I was up in a silver maple today   On Tuesday, March 23, 2021 at 9:30:36 PM UTC-4 Anya Z wrote:   ...more

"noah.m...@gmail.com" <noah.m...@gmail.com>: Mar 24 06:30PM -0700 (excuse me) and didn't see any honey bees. The tree was hazardous and was being removed. I was surprised to find carpenter ants 65 ft up   ...more

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[Mark Lewis]

Wow great report Bill!  I too was using binocs to look at the buds, but also wasn't able to notice any bees on the Silver maple blossoms way up there on March 22. I'm looking forward to your next binocular report.  

And sorry that I had to miss the BABA talk last night-- this could be a good question with regard to resource competition between native bees and honeybees. Anything come up on that? I tend to believe there is a general surplus of nectar in Boston in general, but not during dearths like mid to late July. So a good question might be WHEN are native bees generally most in need of nectar? 

I'm looking forward to learning how to build mason bee houses from you tomorrow. 

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[maureen coello]

Hi Mark,

I just added you to the registration list for tomorrow's workshop.

Sending the zoom link this evening.

Maureen

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