LEWIS COUNTY BEEKEEPERS' ASSOCIATION                                                          

Welcome to our mulligatawney stew of random bee stories ~ if it doesn't fit under the other 5 headings, look for it here!  Below are tales of rediscovering the Western Bumble bee, honey bees building Dewar Scotch bottle sculptures, taking up residence as neighbors to airport landing strips, and more. . . .



“Take the Honey and Run: Meet California's Most Notorious Beenapper”:  5 June 2014, Mother Jones

Who owns the 150 honey bee hives confiscated on December 10, 2013 in California's San Jacinto Valley?  David Allred, honey farm owner, or Gary Manning and Jeffrey Olney, who claim that Allred fooled police into becoming accomplices to bee robbery?  The bees, estimated at $30,000 in value, are examples of a new trend in the U.S., Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand:  bee rustling. 

Allred has a checkered past as “a notorious beenapper with several convictions for bee theft. In 1977, he became the first person in the state of California sentenced to prison for stealing $10,000 worth of bees using two stolen trucks. (He was sentenced to at least three years and served more than six.) The Los Angeles Times reported that during his sentencing hearing, Allred told the court that he wanted history to remember him as the "Jesse James of the beehive industry." (Allred denies saying this.)” 

In this case, Allred was required to return the bees, but Manning and Olney say that by the time they got their bees back, Allred “had stolen the queens and replaced healthy bee colonies with sickly ones. Their lawsuit claims defamation, trespassing, violation of civil rights, negligence, interference with their business, and at least $25,000 in damages.”  Part of the problem in sorting out this he said/he said situation is that California’s “bee-tracking” system is outdated, leaving police to struggle to “untangle” events.  The entire story is an amazing read:  visit http://m.motherjones.com/environment/2014/06/david-allred-california-bee-theft .

“Farmers, Elephants, and Bees: A Winning Combination”: 6 May 2013, O’Reilly.com

Challenged by habitat loss, African elephants have been breaking through farmers’ fences seeking to feed on crops.  Lucy King, who does research for “Save the Elephants,” has found a way to cut down human-elephant face-offs and has made it affordable to African farmers.  The answer?  The beehive fence.  King discovered that elephants steer clear of acacia trees inhabited by African bees: not only that, they’ll warn herd-mates to steer clear, too, if they so much as hear a bee buzz. 

King and colleagues devised a “beehive fence” that hangs hives connected by wires at ten meter intervals around a field. The hives hang at chest level: not only does this make the hives accessible for honey harvesting, but elephants clearly see them.  The beehive fences include thatched roofs to shield bees from both rain and harsh sunlight.  When elephants bump into a hive or a wire, “the beehives all along the fence will swing and release the bees.”  So far, “crop destruction and human-elephant conflicts” have dropped by as much as 85% in some regions.

Want to help?  Email lucy@savetheelephants.org.  She’s looking for Kenyan student workers, but all applicants will be considered.  To see a schematic diagram of the fence and download the construction manual, visit:  http://animals.oreilly.com/elephants-and-bees/



“Meet RoboBee, a bug-sized, bio-inspired flying robot,” Los Angeles Times, 2 May 2013

Harvard scientists have engineered RoboBee, thought the world’s “smallest flying robot,” weighing in at 80 milligrams and with a wingspan of 3 centimeters.  Why?  Researchers said that “such robo-flies could become very useful as tiny search-and-rescue vehicles inside buildings . . . and perhaps even handy to help pollinate plants as colony collapse disorder continues to plague honeybee hives.”

Project scientists had to forgo traditional “nuts and bolts” and engineer ways around turbulence. To give RoboBee “muscles, they came up with a tiny piezoelectric actuator -- thin ceramic strips that squeeze when a current is run through them, allowing the aircraft to flap its wings at 120 times per second.”  They’re still working on a way to provide RoboBee with a brain (microchips that tiny don’t exist yet) and a power source:  “the tiny bugs had to be tethered with tiny power cords and they lasted about 10 to 15 minutes before the hinges on their wings gave out.”

To read more, visit: latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-flying-robot-robobee-smallest-ever-20130502,0,5469981.story. To see “Robobee” in action, visit:  http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-flying-robot-robobee-smallest-ever-20130502,0,5469981.story#axzz2kjKtaKXU. 

“The Sacred Hum of Bees” in World Cultures:  Encounter, 26 Oct 2013.

Encounter, an Australian public television program (for transcript, see URL below) brought together a group of scientists, anthropologists, and religious philosophers to discuss the significance of honey bees in world cultures and religions.  One speaker, Dr. Rod Blackhirst of La Trobe University, gave an overview, noting that “bees are regarded as instances of the divine intellect and the way that it's woven through nature. This is because in the beehive, there appears to be, from our point of view, a real intelligence at work. For instance, they have this innate knowledge of geometry, their hexagonal cones and so forth, that seems to be an intelligence at work.

“. . . The bee is a very conspicuous sacred symbol in nature, and while we can have a sentimental attachment to nature, the bee takes us out of that and takes us into the real inner workings of nature. It tells us that there's a lot more to the way that nature operates and works than just the crude mechanisms of industrial science, which are just really a system of levers and pulleys. And they're very effective levers and pulleys, but it gets us into a lot of trouble if we start pushing and pulling those levers and pulleys without the application of wisdom, and the bee represents that sort of wisdom that needs to go hand in hand with industry.”

The program’s transcript gives many fascinating analyses about the “wisdom of the beehive” as a teaching in all major world religions.  In Christianity, the queen bee served as a model in the development of worship of Mary.  In Islam, the Q’uranic Sura titled “the Bee” shows how God inspired bees to find habitations and food virtually anywhere, serving as a model of adaptability for humans.  In Hinduism, the “goddess of passion and love, Kamadeva, has a bow and arrow similar to Eros or Cupid, except the string is made of honeybees.”  Mormonism, Greek mythology, and a range of other traditions are touched on, as well:  the program even notes parallels drawn between honey extraction and alchemy in the Middle Ages.

To read the transcript of “Encounter: Sacred Bees,” visit:  http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/encounter/sacred-bees/5037376 . 

“Honeybees are sweet for skyscrapers:  the increasingly imperiled insects are finding a new niche in urban life,” 7 Sept 2013, Salon.com [originally published on Smithsonian.com].

This interesting feature explores the rise of urban beekeeping:  not only do city dwellers want natural pollinators for rooftop gardens, but bees are increasingly sought by urban planners. “Green roofs” help nail down high LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) ratings from the U.S. Green Building Council.  Manhattan’s Bank of America Tower soars 51 stories above the street and hosts two bee hives on its 6000 square foot roof.  The bees helped BofA score a coveted platinum LEED rating.   

Bees also serve as “security guards”:  one building in Manhattan found that thieves seeking lead from rooftops of historic buildings find an active hive a “powerful disincentive.”  Ironically, though, now thieves are going after the bees themselves:  Brooklyn beekeepers have reported rising numbers of stolen hives, hard to fight:  “until someone invents a branding iron small enough for a bee, there’s no way to prove that your queen bee was stolen.” Other challenges of urban beekeeping: providing sufficient forage.

At the University of Buffalo, architecture students designed “Elevator B, . . . a 22-ft-tall steel tower clad in hexagonal panels inspired by the natural honeycomb structure of beehives,” just for bees.  The bees call a “cypress, glass-bottomed box suspended near the top” of Elevator B home.  People can look through the bottom of this observation hive to see how bees do business.” The article goes on to describe how 19th and 20th century European architects like Gaudi and Mies incorporated elements of beehives into their designs in hope of inspiring people to emulate honey bees’ industrious harmony.

To read the original story, visit:  http://www.salon.com/2013/09/07/why_are_honeybees_and_skyscrapers_sweet_for_each_other_partner/?source=newsletter.

“A Different Kind of Beekeeping Takes Flight,” 17 Feb 2012, New York Times

This 2012 article explores the potential of the stingless “meloponine” honey bees of Central and South America as pollinators and food/medicinal product sources.  More than 600 species of stingless bees reside in tropical climates.  Their lifestyle – colony-based, with queens, workers, and honey production – resembles Apis mellifera’s.  The main differences: “stingless bees are pickier than their European counterparts about what flowers they visit, making them important for keeping certain tropical forests healthy.” Since they are stingless, many keep them as pets. 

Perhaps the biggest difference:  stingless bees are less prolific in producing their moisture-heavy honey – so moist it’s drinkable – but each stingless bee species produces a distinctly different honey.  Stephen Buchmann, a University of Arizona professor who researches native bees, says that many of their honeys have “a delightful floral aftertaste” and that “the best-tasting honey comes from the royal lady bee, a stingless species that the Maya people of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula have cultivated for 2,000 years.”

Medicinal qualities make stingless bee honey much sought after.  Native populations have long taken advantage of its antibiotic properties to treat wounds, but the Journal of Experimental Pharmacology has now published a study that compared stingless bee honey to commercial antibiotics and found it slightly better for treating guinea pig eye infections. Some studies have found hints that it might even deter cancer, though more research is needed.

Stingless beekeeping – called “meliponiculture” – is on the rise in Brazil, Venezuela, and other Latin American nations, where Mayan art documents how ancient the practice is. Ghana now has an “International Stingless Bee Center.”  Japanese greenhouses value stingless bees for their excellent pollination – and since the bees can’t survive outside greenhouses in Japan’s climate, there is no risk of interference with indigenous bee populations, as there is with bumblebees.

To read more, visit: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/17/a-different-kind-of-beekeeping-takes-flight/?_r=2&.

“The Honey Launderers: Uncovering the Largest Food Fraud in U.S. History,” 19 Sept 2013, Bloomberg BusinessWeek

If you’re a fan of intrigue, you’ll want to read the complete story [URL below]: it boasts more twists than anything in the Mission: Impossible franchise.  The context:  Americans’ appetite for 400 million pounds of honey per year creates motive for honey laundering, and lax regulation provides opportunity.  In 2001, the U.S. levied import duties on Chinese honey, tripling its price: not to be deterred, exporters started to move Chinese honey through other countries.

What’s wrong with exported Chinese honey?  According to this piece, it tends to be “harvested early and dried by machine” – not by bees. This meant bees could produce more honey, but the artificial drying left “an odor and taste similar to sauerkraut.”  To make this “honey” taste sweeter, exporters cut it with molasses and fructose syrup:  ALW’s “network of brokers from China and Taiwan” filtered the honey to remove its pollen signature, then shipped it “from China to India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Russia, South Korea, Mongolia, Thailand, Taiwan, and the Philippines.” Some of this honey was tainted by foulbrood antibiotic chloramphenicol, outlawed in the U.S.

Believe it or not, Interpol‘s “Most Wanted List” includes honey launderers:  they landed there after a “rare inspection” by U.S. custom agents smelled a rat in honey laundering company ALW’s “Korean White” and “Polish Light Amber,” Chinese in origin.  In September 2010, 10 ALW executives were indicted for their role in an “$80 million food fraud, the largest in U.S. history,” but most evaded prosecution by living in Germany.

By 2011, Homeland Security got into the game that agents called “Project Honeygate,” planting moles at ALW’s “garbage can” U.S. food company supplier, Honey Holding.  By February of 2013, they had amassed enough evidence to prosecute Honey Holding for tariff evasion, to the tune of $180 million.  After pleading guilty, Honey Holding began paying its fine (wait for it):  $1 million, in installments.

To read more, visit:  http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-09-19/how-germany-s-alw-got-busted-for-the-largest-food-fraud-in-u-dot-s-dot-history#p1.

“Swarm of bees delays Angels-Mariners game twice,” 23 Sept 2013, Associated Press

It wasn’t contested plays or lost balls that held up the Angels v. Mariners contest in Anaheim, CA on Sunday, Sept 22:  a swarm of bees stopped play twice.  First, during the 3rd inning, the bees infiltrated the right side of the field.  With two runners on base, the Angels had to retreat as ground crews and volunteers “attempted to deter the swarm with a broom, a Gatorade cooler and a cardboard box.”

Then, a "’dude just came out of the stands and said 'It's OK. I'm a beekeeper,' Angels pitcher Wilson said. ‘It was like a 'Seinfeld' episode. Do you tip a bee guy? Throw him a 20?’” 

The game started up again, but then, in the 4th inning, players “began swatting at more bees in the outfield,” with “fans . . . yelling: 'They're on the ground! They're on the ground!'" Calhoun said. "So I'm looking around and I see them swarming and stuff, and then I see a pile of bees on the ground — hundreds and hundreds of bees. There were bees everywhere." Finally, a fire extinguisher was deployed to disperse the bees so the game could proceed. 

To read more, visit:  http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2013/09/23/swarm-bees-delays-angels-mariners-game-twice/?intcmp=latestnews

 Native bee species spotted for first time since ‘90s (14 July 2013, Seattle Times)

The Western bumblebee (Bombus occidentalis), distinctive because of its “white butt,” has reappeared after many feared it was extinct in Washington.  Photographer and “self-described bee nerd” Will Peterman scored pictures of the rare bee in a park in Brier, northeast of Seattle, as it foraged among blackberries.  The following weekend, U. Washington biologists went back with him and found a lone queen.  A Brier resident was the first in over ten years to see one in a garden last summer; they came back to her garden this year.

Once very common in western states, the Western bumblebee started to disappear in the 1990s.  Why they began dying out is unknown, though the drop in their numbers took place as commercial bumblebee breeding programs began to rise.  Scientists hope that this sighting may be the beginning of “a comeback” and hope that these bumbles may have resistance to “whatever it is that knocked them back in the first place,” Peterman noted. 

At U.C. Davis, scientists suspect that bumblebees shipped to European countries may have picked up Nosema bombi, a gut parasite like the Nosema ceranae that plagues the honey bee, with the result that when infective queens were imported back to the Americas, they exposed native populations without any immunities, causing a population crash. The Xerces Society plans to work with residents to “create habitat” for the now-rare bumbles, part of their “citizen science project” engaging bee enthusiasts in tracking bumblebee numbers. 

To read more, visit:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2021395297_bumblebeesxml.html

“Turns Out 80,000 Bees Can Craft 3D-Printed Sculptures,” 21 June 2013:  In lighter news, the “3-B Printing Project” at Dewar’s White Label blended Scotch has put 80,000 bees to work:  the bees have created honeycomb sculptures of Dewar’s new Highlander Honey bottle, as well as Dewar’s “Drinking Man.” How did they do it?  “[D]esigners first crafted molds of their sculptures using specialized CAD software. Each mold was textured with strategically placed hexagons of beeswax that provided a familiar blueprint for the bees to create their own honeycomb. That meant guiding the bees in building their new home, as a honeycomb's hexagonal cells lend it incredible strength and structure — perfect for design. The molds were then placed inside clear plastic enclosures that the bees could enter and leave of their own volition, freeing them to travel to the flowers lining the 3-B lab and collect the pollen needed for their honey and beeswax. From there, they placed a queen bee inside each mold. Her pheromones compelled the bees to construct a nest for her.” To read more, visit:  http://studioatgawker.kinja.com/turns-out-80-000-bees-can-craft-3d-printed-sculptures-514093610. 

To watch a video of the Dewars’ Bees actually making these sculptures, visit:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYPHeg1vKaE.

Sea-Tac Airport Installs Honeybee Hives:  Port Capitalizes on Open Space to Increase the Hardiness of NW Bees (5 June 2013, SEATAC website)

A new project called “Flight Path” has brought 500,000 honey bees to SEATAC.  The Port of Seattle and the nonprofit The Common Acre have joined forces, managing six hives on undeveloped sites that serve as safety buffers for runways.  SEATAC is reportedly one of the first airports in the nation to open its space to bees:  Chicago’s O’Hare led the way in 2011, following the example of German airports in the late 1990s.  The partners hope to improve genetic diversity, thanks to foraging habitat that they hope will attract feral bees:  since 2007, almost 150,000 new plantings have been started in the airport’s wetland mitigation sites.  The project also seeks to raise survivor queens, helping create a stronger breeding stock for western Washington bee colonies.

Why bees?  Airport officials comment that “The parallels between the aviation industry and bees are illuminating. Air traffic controllers at Sea-Tac direct an average of 850 planes each day, transporting 33 million people and 283,500 metric tons of cargo a year. Honeybees also rely on efficient operations, each hive logging up to 200,000 flights a day and requiring visits to two million flower blossoms to generate one pound of honey.  Like planes, bees have wings, fuselages and landing gear. They use terminals, runways, and complex navigation and communication systems. Bees transport cargo from a hub to the home port. These pollinators consume fuel for their journey, and gather resources at both ends of their trip.”  Bees probably generate less waste, though. . . .

In January 2014, SEATAC will open a showcase of bee art and educational exhibits on concourse B, featuring local artists.  The 2013 conservation budget is $500.

To read more, visit:  http://www.portseattle.org/Newsroom/News-Releases/Pages/default.aspx?year=2013#378.  

To see a video covering the project, visit: http://link.videoplatform.limelight.com/media/?channelId=8244840a41db4285969f0e816c6c5480&width=480&height=321&playerForm=Player&deepLink=true

“Utah cabin had uninvited guests - 60,000 honeybees” (Paul Foy, Associated Press; May 6, 2013)

 Ogden, Utah beekeeper Vic Bachman was blown away by the spectacle of 12 feet of comb occupying the eaves of a cabin he was called to inspect. Bachman estimated that they took out 15 pounds of bees, which he says “converts to about 60,000 honeybees.”  (Your scribe cannot forbear noting that typically, a pound of bees means about 3000 bees, making 45,000 a more accurate conjecture – about 5 packages’ worth.  Or maybe these were wee bees. . . .)

Bachman was called in when the bees started to get inside the house.  Using a vacuum cleaner, he spent 6 hours getting the bees out of the cabin:  “[a]t $100 an hour, the bill came to $600.”  Sounds spendy!  Bachman, owner of Deseret Bee Supplies, called the colony "the biggest one I've ever seen"; the bees are now living in a reconstructed hive in his back yard.

To read more, click here; complete URL: http://www.komonews.com/news/offbeat/Utah-cabin-had-uninvited-guests---60000-honeybees-206270141.html

“Nanoparticles Loaded With Bee Venom Kill HIV” (7 Mar 2013, Science Daily): 

New research shows that a “toxin found in bee venom can destroy human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) while leaving surrounding cells unharmed.”  Researchers are working to infuse this toxin into a vaginal gel that could slow (or even stop?) the global HIV pandemic.  The toxin, called melittin, “can poke holes in the protective envelope that surrounds HIV, and other viruses.”  Though “free melittin” in one’s system can be harmful, when deployed via nanoparticles, the toxin kills tumor cells. 

Most drugs used to combat HIV limit the virus’ capacity to reproduce itself, but don’t prevent a person from becoming infected in the first place - whereas the melittin-laden nanoparticles actually “attack[ ] . . . the virus’ structure,” rupturing its protective envelope. "Theoretically, there isn't any way for the virus to adapt to that. The virus has to have a protective coat, a double-layered membrane that covers the virus," according to the lead scientist on the project.  Further applications to viruses like hepatitis B and C, which also have double-layered membranes like HIV, may be possible. 

To read more, click here, or visit:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130307160325.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29

Three Bills Affecting Beekeepers Under Consideration by Washington State Legislature:  March 2013

     Thanks to Franclyn Heineke, our Area 2 WSBA representative, who sent the following information about 3 bills affecting beekeepers that will be voted on during the current state legislative session. Franclyn reports that “WSBA Board members have been working with legislators and giving testimony on these bills.  We need your help to get action on these bills.” Summaries of the bills follow, as well as a click-on file with details and directions for how to contact your legislators about them, should you feel so moved.  Thanks to Franclyn for the concise wording below: 

SSB 5696 limits civil liability for registered beekeepers.  Current language of this bill protects people with bee allergies who live within 1/4 mile of a hive.  They are able to put demands on the beekeeper.   Current language is not workable for beekeepers or people with allergies. Language may be changed.  Check the text of the bill before commenting and voting.* 

SB 5453 extends to 2016 the B&O tax exemption for registered beekeepers that has been in place 2008 - 2013.

HB 1558 extends the B&O tax exemption for registered beekeepers with no cut off date, exempts beekeepers from paying sales tax on feed for bees, and establishes a short-term honeybee working group with the Dept. of Agriculture to consider a variety issues, including the need for more bee forage and the importance of funding additional WSU research on honeybees. 

Click here to find out details of these bills, as well as how you can contact your representatives to weigh in. 

 “The Story of Honey” – new video from the National Honey Board - argues that pollen doesn't have to be part of "authentic" honey:

The National Honey Board has produced a new video that aims to debunk stories that excessive filtration makes honey less authentic and to argue against the idea that pollen should be part of honey. Commercial beekeepers explain how they filter honey to remove all foreign particles, including pollen.  To view the 6 minute video, visit: http://www.storyofhoney.com/.  To read the full press release, visit: http://storyofhoney.com/pdfs/NHB_NationalHoneyBoardPressRelease.pdf. 

“Newfoundland Blizzard Buries Honey Bees – News at 11!” Mudsongs.org, 11 Jan 2013. 

 Read the story of how intrepid Canadian beekeepers "Phillip and Jenny" dug their girls out from under a snowdrift:  the 3 minute video tells the tale of how “St. John’s, Newfoundland, got hit with about 50 cm of heavy, wet snow along with 110 km/h winds that made for some seriously high snowdrifts. One such snowdrift buried one of my beehives. Here it is shortly after I frantically dug it out with my bare hands”:  http://mudsongs.org/newfoundland-blizzard-buries-honey-bees-news-at-11/

 Greek Honey Linked to Healthy Longevity

     “Blue Zones”:  places on Earth where people live extraordinarily long and healthy lives.  In November, both National Geographic and the New York Times reported that Blue Zone researcher Dan Buettner found a link between lifestyle and diet – including honey – on a Greek island called Ikaria, where living past 90 is common and virtually no one suffers from Alzheimers’, cancer, diabetes, or cardiovascular disease. 

     “Honey is treated as a panacea. They have types of honey here you won’t see anyplace else in the world,” he said.  One of Ikaria’s “few doctors” notes that people use honey “for everything from treating wounds to curing hangovers, or for treating influenza. Old people here will start their day with a spoonful of honey. They take it like medicine.”  Ikarian honey “contains anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties,’” according to Buettner.  The Times reports that because the island's steep slopes offer no flat fields for farming, “the indigenous bees of the island feed [on] plants, bushes, and trees that have evolved naturally without any input from man.  Because of this, the pollen and nectar collected by the bees of Ikaria is 100% pure and free from any chemicals or pesticides/herbicides normally found in commercial or private farming.”

      To read more, visit “Honey from Ikaria”:    http://www.greektravel.com/greekislands/ikaria/honey.htm, and see the New York Times’ “The Island Where People Forget to Die,” 24 Oct 2012: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/magazine/the-island-where-people-forget-to-die.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0. 

“Bees Producing Blue and Green Honey: Are M&M’s to Blame?”  Oct. 4, ABC News.com:  This fall, honey bees in the Alsace region of France produced blue and green honey.  Investigators traced the phenomenon to a biogas plant that breaks down wastes from a Mars plant, and it seems that bees sampled the runoff.  Though Mars is promising to fix its waste storage process, it’s too late to help beekeepers in the region, who have had a poor year for honey yield.  For more details, click here.  Complete URL:  http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/10/bees-producing-blue-and-green-honey-are-mms-to-blame/.

     For information about the poor 2012 honey harvest across Europe, see Hannah Briggs’ Sept 27 article, “Honey Suffers After Bad Year for Bees”:  click here.  Complete URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/0/19585638.

“A Sculptor Creates a Stop on the Bee Train”:  A subway stop in Brooklyn has been graced by bronze doors featuring 400 sculpted honey bees on hives and flowers, thanks to a grant to help artists make New York a more beautiful place. (As a native New Yorker, your scribe can attest that bee art could only help!) For more information & some beautiful photographs, click here or visit:  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/02/garden/a-sculptor-creates-a-stop-on-the-bee-train-qa.html?ref=bees .  Someone tell Bill Gates:  maybe Olympia could have something like this!



Beenapper graphic (Mother Jones)

Above, "RoboBee" - screen capture from video link in Los Angeles Times story, left (images Harvard University)

 Below, RoboBee given scale by contrast with a quarter (GizMag.com)

Above, beekeeping in ancient Egypt captured in wall mural; below, the Hindu goddess Kamadevi calls upon bees to drive demons from a beleaguered village:

Below, bee hives on Manhattan rooftop enjoy view of the iconic Chrysler Building:

 Below, Urban beekeeper Andrew Coté points out the queen bee on one of his many rooftop hives with the Brooklyn Bridge in the background. (Photo by Greg Roden/© 2012 Food Forward Productions):

Below, entrance to hive of stingless bees known as "little angels" in a mango tree in Venezuela (photo by Patricia Vit):

Below, Patricia Vit: Honey Pots on Paraguana Peninsula in Venezuela:

Below, honey bear (photo by Jamie Cheung)

 Below, a world map of honey trafficking (Bloomberg.com)

Below, apiarist John Potom handles bees swarming at Mariners-Angels game (Photo, Associated Press):

 Above, the newly re-discovered Western Bumblebee (photo by Will Peterman)

Above, bees make bottle sculptures out of honeycomb (Dewars.com).

Below, honey bee hives at SEATAC Airport (Komo News):

Above, plane soars in for landing over hives; below, beekeepers work hives as planes fly behind them (q13fox.com):

Below, Ogden, Utah beekeepers Vic Bachman and partner take 12 feet of comb, bees,  & brood from cabin (photo from Associated Press): 

Below, "Bee venom, a traditional medical treatment in some parts of the world, may become crucial to HIV treatment" (photo courtesy of US News):

Below, honey and comb (National Honey Board)

Above, "Phillip and Jenny's" hardy Newfoundland girls (Mudsongs.org)

Above, an Ikarian beekeeper working hives to produce longevity-inducing honey.  The view, below, might not hurt either ;)  (Photos by Gianluca Colla)

Below, blue & green comb in Ribeauville, France, yields  green honey (photos by Andre Frieh):

Above, Christopher Russell with his 400 bronze honey bees at Brooklyn's Ninth Avenue subway gate (photo from NewYorkTimes.com).