May, 2011 - 341 On The River

Workers have been returning with different colours of pollen. They seem to gather one colour at a time, presumably only from one plant or tree, rather than mixing their drinks. I have looked but cannot find a flower with this colour pollen. Any suggestions as to what flower it might come from?

The good news is that the Queen ate her way out through the candy door to her cell, and joined her subjects.

The bad news is that the workers are building combs (first inspection 5/1) everywhere as well as on the nice (expensive) wooden frames I have installed for them. Now, 5/7, this “Burr Comb” has a yellow tint showing they’ve coated it with a little Propylis or glue. In the bottom of some cells I now see the first “C” shaped pupae starting to hatch.

The other good news is that we are now in the beeswax business.

Cormorants (Double Crested?) have just made their way up the Maumee River. I first knew them in Ireland where my father described them as ‘very dirty birds’. Forty four years ago I saw none on Lake Ontario, then 10 years later I saw a few solitary birds off Toronto Islands. Ten more years passed while the population increased to cloud-like flocks on the horizon. Moving to Lake Erie 24 years ago I saw the whole cycle repeated as the invasion of the Great Lakes proceeded westward. Now we saw about seventy of them perched on one tree on “Small Island” outside 341. Their droppings often kill the trees, as has happened at Lake Erie Islands, because of high ammonia content or just outright volume of guano, I’m not sure which.

341 On The River

A Blog From Perrysburg, Ohio, USA

Monthly Archives: May 2011

Pollen and Comb

Cormorants