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Hi Rick & All, May 14, 2012
I have seen two such trees, both about 1960 and have wondered if there
was something special about this period that favoured wild hives. Were yours
seen some time ago or recently ?
On May 28, 1961, I collected beetles from a large (~2' stump) Hemlock
that had been felled and left about 1 year previously (by estimate). This
was near the junction of Prospect Road and Moore's Brook. The remains of bee
comb on the sides of a hole that had been chopped about 50' up suggested
that the tree had been cut just to get the honey. By guess, the tree was
likely cut late fall or early winter of 1959.
The second tree was a standing live White Spruce (~8" DBH) on the South
facing bank of the Boar's Back in Cambridge. The hole was about 7' up on the
SE side. Drawing on memory, this would have been late fall (my brother Irwin
had found it when bees were active) 1957 or 1958 (I think). Using hand saw
and chisel, we cut a small door above the entrance, took a token amount of
comb with honey, and closed it back up.
Yt, Dave Webster, Kentville
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rick Whitman" <dendroica.caerulescens@gmail.com>
To: <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>
Sent: Monday, May 14, 2012 5:24 AM
Subject: Re: [NatureNS] Garden bees
>I don't think I'd call a honey bee "small slim". The workers are just one
>size.
>
> Someone who is truly familiar with honey bees would not confuse any
> other bee, wasp, hoverfly with a honey bee. Google "hoverfly photo".
>
> Honey bees forage 5-8 km so considering hobby beekeepers, even in
> metro, there are "tame" honey bees almost everywhere that people live
> in NS. 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.
>
> Rick Whitman
>
>
> On Sun, May 13, 2012 at 10:14 PM, Peter Payzant <pce@accesswave.ca> wrote:
>> Some friends and I were talking about bees seen in the garden. There is a
>> small slim bee which we all felt looked like a honeybee (definitely not a
>> bumblebee), but on reflection we wondered if honeybees only lived in
>> domesticated colonies. Most of us have these "honeybees" in our gardens,
>> but
>> we don't know of any hives nearby. So, we were wondering if they might be
>> domesticated honeybees which have set up housekeeping in the wild, or
>> more
>> probably, are they some related wild species.
>>
>> Anybody care to take a stab at this?
>>
>> Peter Payzant
>> Waverley
>
>
> -----
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>
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