Eric Mussen

It's critical issue.

Mussen, an Extension apiculturist based at the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology since 1976, says malnutrition is a major factor in the declining bee population. That, along with pesticides, pests, diseases and stress.

"You, no doubt, have lost track of how many times I have stated that malnutrition is a leading factor in our unacceptable annual bee colony loss numbers," Mussen writes in the  latest edition of his bimonthly newsletter, from the UC Apiaries, available free on his website. 

"I have also stated innummerable times that our synthesized bee diets just cannot match the value of nutrients obtained by bees from a mixture of quality pollens. My concern has been that although we have a very good idea of the protein requirements for honey bees, the rations of essential amino acids honey bees require, and their required vitamins and minerals, etc., we still cannot feed bees on our best diets and keep them alive more than two months in confinement."

"Thus, we are missing some very critical components in our synthesized diets. If we could find those components, could we formulate a diet that would sustain bees in a healthy condition during 'feedlot beekeeping'?"

Mussen touches on a recent study that shows a component in honey, p-coumarin, stimulates "the honey bee immune system to work better." 

However, it's not the honey that's doing this.

"Actually," Mussen says, "that chemical is a contaminant of honey that comes from pollen grains that are mixed into the honey during the bees' processing cycle. Thus, the bees need only to consume the pollen to obtain the desired results. How many other minor chemicals are there in pollens that are so useful to honey bee health?"

You'll want to read what he says about floral pollens containing microbes.  "If these microbes are really so important to the nutritional needs of honey bees, what are we doing when we introduce antibiotics and fungicides into the system?"

Bottom line: we need more research to see what's going on with pesticide exposures and reduced microbial levels.

Or as Mussen says: "As researchers continue to try to improve upon our supplemental bee feeds, they have to consider the possibility of inoculating a semisold formulation of the diet with fresh pollen and stored pollen so that a natural microbial complex can do its things and make the food appropriately fit for consumption by honey bees."

To bee or not to bee--a photographer.

Capturing images of honey bees is a delightful leisure activity.

You don't have to sign up for a safari on another continent, or invest in thousands of dollars worth of camera gear.

You can do it all in your backyard (especially if you provide bee friendly plants). Or, you can head for a bee garden or park.

Lately, my objects of interest are the honey bees foraging on our tower of jewels (Echium wildpretii). Earlier this spring, five towers of jewels graced our backyard. Now we're down to one; the others are spent. (They're biennuals and have completed their life cycle.) The sole Echium apparently doesn't know it's time to quit; it has been blooming off and on since April.

Which is wonderful for the bees, beekeepers and photographers!

To get photos of honey bees, I don't poke 'em, prod 'em or pin 'em. I don't spray 'em, glue 'em or freeze 'em. The bees do what they do naturally; I am a visitor in their habitat. I quietly pull up a chair--keeping low to the ground and as obscure as possible--and watch them. No, they won't sting you when they're foraging. They are more likely to show defensive behavior when you're too close to their hive entrance (such as blocking their flight path); when you haven't smoked the hive properly; or when you swat at them.

Lighting is everything. Photography, in Greek, means "writing with light" and that's what you do.  Write with light. A little backlighting and a honey bee absolutely glows.  Adjust your camera settings and you can stop a bee in flight or capture the redness of its tongue (proboscis).

Early in the morning is the best time to photograph bees. Their flight muscles haven't quite warmed up yet; they move at a slower pace; and they linger longer on the blossoms. One of the bees below clung to the same Echium blossom for two hours before it buzzed off.

These photos were all taken around 7 a.m. the same day on the same plant. The tools:  a Nikon D800 camera and a 200 mm macro lens.

Cameras are just that--a tool. They don't make the image; the photographer does. Folks who say "You must have a nice camera" don't understand the creative process or the making of an image. They would never tell a gourmet cook "You must have a nice set of pots and pans" or an artist "you must have some nice brushes" or an athlete "You must have a nice pair of shoes."

That being said, bee photography is something each of us can do, each in our own way.

Read your camera manual. Know the settings. Know what your camera can and cannot do. Learn from other photographers. Look at photos in art galleries, in publications, or on the web. Then head out for a bee safari.

On an African safari, you may not find "big game." But on an insect safari, you will always find "little game."

Always.

Valley carpenter bees are passionate about passionflower vines (Passiflora).

You see these black bees foraging on the blossoms. Tiny grains of golden pollen, looking like gold dust, dot the thorax.

Their loud buzz frightens many a person, but wait, they're pollinators.

Valley carpenter bees (Xylocopa varipuncta) are found in the Central Valley and southern California, Arizona, New Mexico and southward through Mexico, according to native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis.

These carpenter bees are large (about the size of a queen bumble bee). The females are solid black, while the males are golden/buff-colored with green eyes.  

We receive scores of calls about "golden bumble bees." They're the male Valley carpenter bees, sometimes nicknamed "Teddy bears." 

The females are the only ones we've seen in the passionflower vines, though.

The males? They must be cruising somewhere else, patrolling for females.

Most of the time we see female Gulf Fritillary butterflies (Agraulis vanillae) laying their eggs on the leaves, and male Gulf Frits searching for females.

if it's a streak of gray, you don't wash it away.

You welcome it. 

The gray hairstreak butterfly (Strymon melinus) is common on our sedum, a good fall plant for pollinators, including butterflies, honey bees, sweat bees and syrphid flies, aka hover flies or flower flies.

Butterfly expert Art Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology at the University of California, Davis, says on his website that the gray hairstreak visits "an immense variety of flowers, both wild and cultivated.  They are particularly addicted to Heliotrope and white-flowered Apiaceae."

Apiaceae? That's the carrot family, which includes not only carrots but parsley, celery, Queen Ann'es lace, parsnip, cilantro, hemlock, fennel and anise. Heliotropes, which commonly yield pink-purple flowers, are good for graystreaks, but not good for horses. It's toxic and can induce liver failure, according to the ASPCA's Animal Poison Control Center.

You can't be too careful out there.