This illustration appears in Flapping Wings, Aerospace 2016, 3(3), 24; doi:10.3390/aerospace3030024. It is the work of Phillip Burgers, Ph.D., of the Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, San Diego.

Remember the Spruce Goose? Technically known as the Hughes H-4 Hercules, it was built by the Hughes Aircraft Company for transatlantic flight transport for use during World War II. Although it basically couldn't get off the ground, it made aviation history as (1) the largest flying boat ever built, and (2) the largest-ever wingspan. If you want to see it, it's on display at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, McMinnville, Ore.

Just like the Spruce Goose, the bumble bee doesn't look flight-worthy, either.

But it is.

We saw scores of bumble bees in May of 2015 when we attended a BugShot Macro Photography Workshop, taught by noted insect photographers Alex Wild, John Abbott and Thomas Shahan at the Hastings Natural History Reserve, a biological field station owned by UC Berkeley in the upper Carmel Valley, Monterey County.

While at the four-day workshop, we had plenty of time to capture images of bumble bees in flight--and we did. We especially marveled at the yellow-faced bumble bees (Bombus vosnesenskii) foraging in a lush meadow of vetch and lupine. It was bumble bee heaven! We posted some of the images on Bug Squad.

Enter aerodynamics expert Phillip Burgers of the School of Arts and Sciences, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, San Diego. He asked for--and received--permission to use one of the bumble bee images for his research paper for an aerospace journal.

"Your photograph is perfect, as it shows those wings flapping back-and-forth, highlighting their kinetic energy concept I am introducing in my paper," he wrote. He signed off as "Phillip Burgers, Ph.D., Aerodynamics & Performance Flight Technologies, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc."

You can read his paper, published July 29 in a special issue, Flapping Wings, Aerospace 2016, 3(3), 24; doi:10.3390/aerospace3030024. See http://www.mdpi.com/journal/aerospace/special_issues/flapping_wings#published

His illustration, titled "Evaluating the capability of generating lift by flapping wings during hover & forward flight," points out "lift," "wing reference area," "kinetic energy of wings" and "air density." 

It's good to see the focus on bumble bees--whether in flight or in the Aerospace journal. 

Charley Nye, manager of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, teaching a UC Davis course in February 2016. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

• You want to do your part to help the declining bee population.
• You want to learn about the honey bees that pollinate the food you eat, including fruits, vegetables and nuts (especially almonds!).
• You'd love some honey for your table and some wax to make candles.
• You want to learn about the queen bee, drones and worker bees--what they do and how to care for them.
• You want to join your fellow beekeeping friends.

But where do you start?

You're in luck.

The E. L. Nino lab at the University of California, Davis, is offering two back-to-back short courses: the first on Saturday, Aug. 27 on “Planning Ahead for Your First Hives” and the second on Sunday, Aug. 28 on “Working Your Colonies.” 

Each will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, located on Bee Biology Road, west of the central campus.

Participants may register for one or both courses, according to Extension apiculturist Elina Niño, who is coordinating and teaching the courses with Bernardo Niño and colleagues at the Laidlaw facility. The short courses will be limited to 25 people.

Here's some information about each:

Planning Ahead for Your First Hive
The course, “Planning Ahead for Your First Hives,” taught by Elina Niño, Bernardo Niño, Charley Nye and Tricia Bohls, will provide lectures and hands-on exercises. The course is described as “perfect for those who have little or no beekeeping experience and would like to obtain more knowledge and practical skills before moving on to the next step of owning and caring for their own honey bee colonies.”

Lecture modules will cover honey bee biology, beekeeping equipment, how to start your colony, and maladies of the hive. Practical modules will zero in on how to build a hive, install a package, inspect a hive and monitor for varroa mites.

Participants will have the opportunity to learn about and practice many aspects of what is necessary to get the colony started and keep it healthy and thriving. At the end of the course, participants "will be knowledgeable about installing honey bee packages, monitoring their own colonies and taking on possible challenges with maintaining a healthy colony."

The $95 registration fee covers the cost of course materials (including a hive tool), lunch and refreshments.

Working Your Colonies
For the short course, “Working Your Colonies,” instructors are Elina Niño and Bernardo Niño. The course, to include lectures and hands-on exercises, is described as “perfect or those who already have beekeeping experience and would like to obtain more knowledge and practical to move on to the next step of managing and working their own honey bee colonies.”

Lecture modules will include advanced honey bee biology, honey bee integrated pest management and products of the hive. Practical modules will cover queen wrangling, honey extraction, combining colonies, splitting colonies and monitoring for varroa mites. The $150 registration fee covers the cost of course materials, lunch, and refreshments.

For each course, participants are asked to bring a bee suit or veil if they have one (the lab has a limited number).  Lodging is not provided. For more information on registering for the short courses, contact Bernardo Niño at elninobeelab@gmail.com or (530) 380-BUZZ (2899). Want to access up-to-date information? See lab's Facebook page.

Map to Laidlaw

So here's this newly eclosed male monarch trying to sip a little nectar from a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia).

A female longhorned bee, probably Melissodes agilis, seeks to claim it. There's no such thing as sharing, especially when nectar is at stake and it's first-come, first-served. However, the monarch is well positioned. There's no room for both a butterfly and a bee. Not at the same time.

Then a male longhorned bee (probably Melissodes agilis) targets the monarch. Shoo, monarch! Outta here! I'm saving that flower for my girl!

If you look closely at the male bee/male monarch photo, you can see the monarch's wings don't seem quite right. They're not. Greg Kareofelas, associate at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC Davis, points out that "the wings are deformed; they did not fully expand and dry straight."

As for the longhorned bee, Melissodes agilis is one of more than 1600 species of undomesticated bees that populate California.

To learn more about bees in California, get a copy of the landmark California Bees and Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists (Heyday), the work of bee experts Gordon W. Frankie of UC Berkeley and Robbin W. Thorp of UC Davis, photographer/entomologist Rollin E. Coville,  and UC Berkeley botany expert Barbara Ertter.

All have UC Berkeley connections. Thorp, distinguished emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis, received his doctorate in entomology from UC Berkeley. Coville, who took the amazing, incredibly detailed photos for the book, also received his doctorate in entomology from UC Berkeley.

The book also includes information on 53 bee friendly plants--like Tithonia!--and how to grow them.

Tithonia, a member of the sunflower family Asteraceae, is a favorite of insects. Pull up a chair at a Tithonia patch near you and observe the diversity of foraging insects. Among them: honey bees, bumble bees, sweat bees, longhorned bees, and assorted butterflies, including monarchs, Western tiger swallowtails, Gulf Fritillaries, skippers, California buckeyes, mournful duskywings, painted ladies, and cabbage whites. And oh, some predators, too, including praying mantids and wasps (insects) and crab spiders and orb weavers (spiders).

There's never a dull moment in the Tithonia patch. 

Extension apiculturist Elina Niño

The summer edition includes Bernardo Niño's article, "Educational Apiary at UC Davis Is A-Buzz."

"After much preparation and planning, we finally established an educational apiary here at the UC Davis Bee Facility," he wrote. "The main goal of this apiary is to provide beekeepers of all levels with an opportunity to experience a variety of hive types. We have been teaching beekeeping courses for awhile now and we always get asked about hives other than Langstroth. So we have finally made the first step towards providing a comprehensive demonstration of the different ways to keep honey bees. If you were to come by the apiary right now, you would get a chance to see a Kenyan Top Bar hive, Warré hive, Langstroth hive, and even a Langstroth hive modified with Flow™ Hive frames. Next season we are excited to add the Hungarian Rotating hive, as well as plastic and polystyrene hives." Bernardo Niño also offers a quick review of what these hives are.

Other articles feature:

Africanized Bee Testing. UC Davis does not test honey bee samples to determine if they are Africanized. But Elina Niño lists some facilities that do.

Do Bees Have a Personality?  "I have been asked, jokingly, of course, if I call the bees in a colony by their names. I would laugh and maybe even say a few names like 'Bee-anca' and 'Bee-atrix.' Doctoral candidate Cameron Jasper provides information.

A Few Notes About 'Our Colonies.'  This year we partnered with a local beekeeper to complete the second year of our project of evaluating various biomiticides for Varroa management.

Let's Talk About American Foulbrood. Over the past few months, I heard from several beekeepers that they've been finding American Foulbrood (AFB) in their hives.

Is Honey 'Bee Vomit'? Extension apiculturist (emeritus) Eric Mussen is a guest columnist. The answer? "In a word, 'No.' Honey is neither bee vomit nor bee barf."

Kids' Corner: Bees Recognize Human Faces. Do you have a hard time remembering names of people you meet? I do, too--I'm MUCH better at remembering faces. And guess what--bees can do it, too.

To stay-up-to-date with the most current news from the E. L. Niño lab, access the lab's Facebook page. You'll learn about upcoming beekeeping courses, as well as the Master Beekeeper course.

The Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility is located on Bee Biology Road, west of the central campus.