next message in archive
next message in thread
previous message in archive
previous message in thread
Index of Subjects
Index of Subjects Peter: There are about 200 species of bees in Nova Scotia. Cory Sheffield has done the most work on the inventory of bees in Nova Scotia. Kenna MacKenzie and Steve Javorek have also documented many of the pollinators, including bees, in blueberry fields. Honey bee, one species, and all in Nova Scotia are here because of beekeepers. This species is not native to North America, all those in North America are either in managed hives (the overwhelming majority) or escapes from those hives. Long-term feral hives are very rare in Nova Scotia. Even those that get established from a swarm in the early summer, have a tough time making it through the winter. There is an irony here because storing honey is really a colony’s way of storing food for a long, cold winter. There are about 15 species of bumble bees in Nova Scotia. This leaves the vast majority of species of bees in Nova Scotia as bees that most people never notice. They are all smaller than bumble bees and >95% of them are smaller than honey bees. They are inconspicuous unless you are looking for them. Two genera that are common in gardens (the exposed soil provides them with good nesting sites) are _Andrena_ and _Colletes_. Both are relatively furry (pollen sticks to the furry hairs). At this time of year the brilliant metallic green _Augochlorella_ can be common as well. Hope this helps. I recommend browsing bugguide.net to see what some of them look like. DBMcC On Mon, May 14, 2012 at 10:57 AM, Peter Payzant <pce@accesswave.ca> wrote: > So I take it that if we can differentiate hover flies from bees, anything we > see that looks like a honeybee probably is a honeybee, and moreover is > probably "tame", that is from a hive somewhere. Is that a reasonable > statement? > > Peter Payzant > Waverley, NS > > > > On 2012-05-14 10:25 AM, Frederick W. Schueler wrote: > > On 5/14/2012 4:24 AM, Rick Whitman wrote: > > The vast majority of honey bees seen in NS are "tame". This is > not so further south. > > I have seen 2 "bee trees" in my life with feral honey bees. One was in > Annapolis Royal& one was in the wilds of Hants Co. at least 5 km from > the nearest remote habitation. > > >
next message in archive
next message in thread
previous message in archive
previous message in thread
Index of Subjects