Dave Hunter
Bee Informed: The "Right to Garden", Pesticides in Milkweed from Nurseries, and Backyard Mosquito Spraying Impacts Birds and Bees
Each month our Bee Informed Blog highlights current news, science, and research related to solitary bee conservation, food insecurity, and sustainability. 1. Only Two States Have Passed ‘Right to Garden’ Laws. Will Others Follow? (Civil Eats) Carrots, baby kale, and spinach never tasted so sweet. After emerging from a multi-year legal battle over gardening, Nicole Virgil is looking forward to cultivating those vegetables and more this winter in her backyard. Growing one’s own food, central to human existence for millennia, has suddenly become a hot-button topic in some communities. From Michigan to Massachusetts, people have been thwarted—or even outright banned—from growing food on...
Dave Hunter
Bee Informed: Murder Hornets Given a New Name, Meet the Robber Fly, and Threatened Wild Bees Get Help from Washington Researchers
Each month our Bee Informed Blog highlights current news, science, and research related to solitary bee conservation, food insecurity, and sustainability. 1. Murder hornets given new common name by entomologists (Associated Press) The invasive hornet found in Washington state that has been referred to as the Asian giant hornet or murder hornet has a new name. Washington state Department of Agriculture officials said Monday that the Entomological Society of America (ESA) has adopted “northern giant hornet” for the species Vespa mandarinia in its Common Names of Insects and Related Organisms List. Continue reading... 2. Meet the Robber Fly, a predator of insects in...
Dave Hunter
Summer Heat Waves May Impact Your Bees!
With extreme summer temperatures sweeping North America, shipping trucks, mailboxes, sheds, and garages can quickly feel like ovens! While bees are hearty insects, extreme temps can impact their survival. Here are a few things to keep in mind this summer: Once our bees leave our facility, we cannot regulate the temperature of the cocoons. Extreme temps and shipping delays may affect your bees. If you know your leafcutter bees are scheduled to ship during a heat wave, please consider changing your bee ship date. You can change your bee ship date up to the Wednesday before your scheduled ship date. If your summer leafcutter...
Dave Hunter
Bee Informed: Bees Change from Solitary to Social, Bees are Fish, Ecologically Friendly Alternatives to the Great American Lawn, and Ball of Mating Bees
Each month our Bee Informed Blog highlights current news, science, and research related to solitary bee conservation, food insecurity, and sustainability. 1. Native Bees Climb Social Ladder (County News) A native bee which nests in tree-fern fronds is helping scientists understand how life developed to be social and altruistic — and how bees evolved to purposefully hatch sterile young, a fact which defies Darwin’s natural selection theory. The Australian bee Amphylaeus morosus only recently made the jump from being a solitary species to a social one — which made them a perfect, and rare, animal to put under the metaphorical microscope. The...
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