Noticed many/any honey bees this summer?

[Ron in Regina]

Have only noticed a handfull of Bee's this year, but piles of Wasps & Hornets & the like....
Really wet year out here, so lots of insects that like that weather, & lots of others that
like to eat the insects that like that weather...

 

[lone wolf]

I've been patient - waited for Billie to finish before I lopped the head off his dandelion - as many times as last year (best guess) Heard it was happening but haven't noticed a drop in their numbers. They seem to be getting a bit more competition from hummingbird moths - a critter I don't recall ever seeing before. What I haven't been pestered with a lot this year are mosquitoes - and I don't miss them at all....

 

[talloola]

many of the fruit trees in this area had a very poor crop this year because of a lack of bees.
we had a very cool june, bees were not out and about, it was too cold.

my daughter who is a grower on a farm, said she saw lots of bees hiding in the ground, seemed
to be trying to protect themselves from the weather, then when all of the heat arrived, july
and august, it was too late.

our little apple tree, which is usually loaded with apples, had 'one' apple.

our neighbours cherry tree, was almost empty.

many farmers complained of same problem, caused from a cool june, too cool.

 

[Ron in Regina]

On a positive note....not many grasshoppers out here this year. Either
too wet or too cold at the wrong times for them. Perhaps most of the
eggs drowned or something. Lots of Crickets though....

 

[Dexter Sinister]

Lots of bees in my yard this year, same as always. I haven't done any formal counts or anything like that, but we have a couple of areas in the back yard that are full of Himalayan orchids, that draw bees like... well, like bees to flowers I guess. During daylight hours there are always a dozen or so bees visiting them. We use no pesticides or herbicides in the yard, we like to provide a congenial environment for the bees and birds, and it seems to be working. The only critters I try to keep out of the yard are the @#%!#%!@# domestic cats the neighbours let loose to hunt down the birds I like, and for them I have a slingshot and a bag of marbles. For the cats I mean, not the neighbours. I despise domestic cats and irresponsible owners who let them run free, they (the cats) kill for fun when they can't possibly be hungry, and as far as I'm concerned any predator in my yard that I don't want there is a rat and that's how I'll treat it.

 

[Tonington]

I wouldn't count them out just yet.

Nobody is counting them out yet, but there is genuine cause for concern. One good year stands out against the backdrop, it's not just American bee colonies that are being hit by an increasing trend in mortality. The apiculturalists, and epidemiologists have identified a number of factors involved in the decline. A parasitic mite Varroa destructor (now resistant against the two control products Fluvalinate resistance in some provinces, and coumaphos in most province), Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus, mono-cropping, and a number of other stressors.

But the mortality seems to go in jumps. There will be years where winter mortality is near normal (5-15%), and then there will be large events like the winters of 2007-09, where mortality rises to 36%. Of note, this tracked the same losses south of the border.

As a comparison, this year the Fraser River Sockeye had a huge return this year, the estimates are coming in that it is the largest year class in close to 100 years. That doesn't mean that they are rebounding, in fact for one of the spawning populations in the Fraser River there is a huge cycle, and we're at the peak this year. It's likely that the cold temperatures during their smolt run that year helped immensely.

Just as a single year in a climate record means nothing about the overall system, neither do single year mortality rates in bee hives, or single year spawn runs in salmon.