Bee Photographs

No not necessarily
Bees are opportunists and will bring food into the hive at every opportunity
I have had a queen-less colony fill a whole brood box wth pollen

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No recommendations I only have the ones native to our plot.
I do know that all Banksias are susceptible to dieback . There are some really spectacular ones. The native nurseries will be better able to help you.

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No worries, I’ll check out Bunnings later on :slight_smile:

Yes…I recommend this one:

It only grows to a couple of metres in height but is also good for its fire tolerance. Note that Banksia’s suffer from root rot (so keep their feet dry) and also most (all?) are very susceptible to die-back.

These also grow very well up around the Joondalup/Wanneroo area.

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Thanks Alan! Hope to meet up with my fellow beeks in NOR, sometime in 2017!

The mock orange is flowering with the rain around

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Oh those are lovely…what are they?

@Dee Eucalyptus (Corymbia) Ficifolia Red Flowering Gum

From the same link (nearer the end)…

Corymbia ficifolia:

  • Tends to have orange to red flowers, but can be almost white, pink, or deep crimson.
  • Tends to have darker bark
  • Very prolific flowering
  • Buds can be any colour: pink, reddish, pale or green.
  • Leaves tend to be longer relative to width.
  • Most individual examples are clearly one species or the other, but even experts cannot always tell the difference, particularly as many cultivated trees are crossbreeds.

These are the trees/flowers @busso (or was it @skeggley??) mentioned in a post on a different thread about being a treat as a kid (and also the same one’s he commented on in relation to their classification).

The flowers literally are to the point of overflowing with nectar. I find it quite amusing to see the bees almost looking “drunk” on nectar laying in the flower…

I attended a 2-day workshop at UWA (CIBER - http://www.ciber.science.uwa.edu.au/) and was chatting to Tiffane Bates (one of the Researchers) and she commented that when one of these are in full flower a colony of bees can readily fill a super in a week if it’s located close enough.

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You lot are so lucky having all these flowering trees.
No wonder the Flow has taken off so
It’s so well suited to taking off individual frames of individual honey

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The pot colony has been bearding in the humidity the last few days so much more than the other colonys. I thought the straight line of bees was curious and was wondering what they were queueing for.
Sorry about the poor quality pic.

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Could they be lining up on a honey leak from the box above?

That is curious! Dawn’s idea makes sense…wonder what’s happening there?

I spotted this forager on a shrub that our gardener called a New Zealand tea (ti) tree. I think the real name of the genus is Leptospermum. The bee seems to like finding some food in February in southern California! Thankfully we don’t have too many of these shrubs, because I think the honey is pretty powerfully flavored. :smile:

We have Eucalyptus flowering with impressive bunches of red flowers too, but the flowers are too high above ground for a decent photo. :blush:

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This one blows up real nice at full-size :slight_smile:

This girl has hanging out on top of a hive at bee school this past Saturday.

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She’s a beauty Bobby!

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May be we are over thinking the bearding.
Could it be they just want a rest. I see two girls in the photo chatting.

Maybe the conversation went like this.

Mabel : OMG my legs are killing me. That last load of pollen nearly did my poor old legs a mischief.

Mary: I know, I know. My poor tongue is killing me. I don’t think I could got another drop of nectar today.

Mabel: Do you think they will miss us out here?

Mary: Nah. Queeny was in such a lather this morning. Poor attendants didn’t know whether they were coming or going.

Mabel: Oh I miss those teenage days when all we had to do was paste a flake of wax and one there.

Mary: I try not to think at all.

Mabel: But just think our next job is Guard that can’t be so bad.

Mary : I am just dreading it…what if I have to send someone on their way.

Mabel: Oh suck it up girl, think of the hive and not yourself. What about the big person sitting on the block of wood. Should we send him on his way.

Mary: He’s all right I see him here all the time. And we not guards yet so put that sting away.

Mabel: When do you think we should get back to work?

Mary: Well I am not leaving till all those slackers down there move.

Mabel: Good. Did I tell you about…

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Ha, I was thinking they may have been queuing for a Beeruce Stingsteen concert or something…

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@busso, thank you! Best laugh of the day. :laughing:

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Sometimes walking is easier than flying home…

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