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Results for "pollinators" | US Forest Service

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U.S. Forest Service Caring for the land and serving people

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The Pollinator Partnership is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization and the largest in the world dedicated exclusively to the protection and promotion of pollinators ...

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Schoolchildren and seniors are pushing to undo an ecological catastrophe threatening monarch butterflies - by planting the milkweed that monarchs need.

The dwindling of migrating monarchs has been so swift that federal scientists say farmers, utilities, homeowners and public-land managers also must get involved. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials estimate monarchs have declined by about 95 percent since 1996, to 33 million from 1 billion.

"We were hoping to see one or two monarchs this year. We didn't see any," said teacher Allison Cole at Flagstaff Academy in Longmont, one of several Colorado schools where students have planted milkweed gardens.

An emerging national strategy calls for creating milkweed safe havens and butterfly "highways" for the orange-black-and-white monarchs.

While monarchs draw nectar from many flowers before laying eggs, their caterpillars can survive only on milkweed. Monarchs' 3,000-mile migration from Canada through the United States to wintering sites in Mexico requires multiple generations of butterflies because each can fly only about 100 miles.

The butterflies are victims of prairie conversion and increasing use of glyphosate herbicides. These herbicides, sprayed on crops genetically modified to withstand them, kill other plants, including the milkweed that once served as habitat for pollinators such as butterflies, bats and bees.

In August, a coalition of species and food security groups petitioned the federal government to grant monarchs "threatened" status under the Endangered Species Act. But protection under that law can take more than a decade - too slow to stem monarchs' precipitous decline.

"People are thinking, if we plant rows of milkweed along fields, highways or anywhere we can be planting, that will provide more stopover places," said Gina Glenne, a Fish and Wildlife Service botanist based in Grand Junction. "We think the butterflies were doing fairly well before the 1990s. But we don't have the milkweed now because we spray these crops."

President Barack Obama in June launched a White House initiative to save pollinators, warning their demise could ruin agriculture and the broader economy. Obama convened bee and butterfly experts to develop a strategy, due in January, and is coordinating with leaders in Canada and Mexico.

Those working on the strategy are leaning toward efforts to mobilize communities widely to restore plant diversity bit by bit - on fallow farm fields, in parks, under power lines, on federal land, along roads and at senior centers and schools, said University of Kansas professor of ecology and evolutionary biology Orley Taylor, who serves on a presidential committee.

Taylor runs Monarch Watch, which is working with 208 schools and nonprofits to plant milkweed. Monarch Watch this year sent 600 milkweed plants, grown from native Colorado seeds, to schools and neighborhood coordinators around Colorado. Eastern Colorado lies at the western edge of monarchs' Midwest migration route from mountains in Mexico to Canada. Western Colorado lies at the edge of monarchs' western migratory route.

"We've got to get people to plant milkweed all over," Taylor said. "We're not going to save this species unless the public gets involved. Saving the monarch butterfly has to become a national priority."

In addition to students at about a dozen schools, senior citizens along the Front Range have mobilized to plant milkweed, said horticulture director Amy Yarger at the Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster.

Residents at more than 50 senior centers have created gardens, she said. A Colorado Butterfly Monitoring Network of volunteers in 2013 counted butterflies at eight sites, increasing to 50 sites this year.

A Butterfly Pavilion team planted a milkweed garden for noncaptive butterflies that drew monarchs. And pavilion staffers this winter are using a Westminster greenhouse to accelerate production of milkweed - joined by the students at Flagstaff Academy - for expanded gardens and distribution to families this spring, Yarger said.

"The real impact is going to come when all the individual gardeners encourage municipalities not to spray milkweed and kill it," Yarger said. "We should allow milkweed along roads and in ditches, not mow it down, not spray it. This absolutely can be done."
Bruce Finley: 303-954-1700, bfinley@denverpost.com or twitter.com/finleybruce

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Rescue strategy hatching for dwindling monarch butterflies

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Schoolchildren and seniors are pushing to undo an ecological catastrophe threatening monarch butterflies - by planting the milkweed that monarchs need. The dwindling of migrating monarchs has been so swift that federal scientists say farmers, utilities, homeowners and public-land managers also must get involved. U.S.

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It's a mighty good thing that so many gardeners have bees on the brain these days. With numerous North American native bee species in dramatic decline due to habitat loss, forage scarcity, pesticide exposure, and other negative impacts, bees are in desperate need of a helping hand. Thankfully, many gardeners are now stepping up to the plate, creating pollinator gardens for these incredible insects and providing them with much-needed nectar forage. But, our native bees need more than just nectar to survive. Well-equipped pollinator gardens are designed with bee nesting habitat in mind, too. Today, we're teaming up with the folks at Nature Hills Nursery to take pollinator gardening to the next level by introducing you to the best bee plants for fulfilling both of these important bee needs.

About native bees

Though European honey bees are among the most recognizable bees to most gardeners, they're far from the most important. North America is home to more than 4,000 species of native bees, some of which are not much bigger than this letter b, while others are as large as the nose on your face.

The sheer diversity of our native bees is mind-blowing and their specialization is equally awe-inspiring. Some native bees only pollinate one particular species or family of plants. Others are far more general in their feeding habits, feasting on nectar from a broad array of plants. Knowing which plants are the best bee plants to include in a pollinator garden can be a tough thing because it depends on which species of bees live where you live and what their feeding and nesting habits are.

To accommodate for this regionality, gardeners are often presented with a simple list of the best bee plants to include in their garden, but few resources delve into why these particular plants are the best ones for helping bees. Today, we'd like to do just that. We're not just going to introduce you to the best bee plants for your pollinator garden, we're also going to tell you exactly why they're the perfect fit.

The best bee plants: What qualities to look for

The physical characteristics of a particular species of native bee play a big role in which plants they use for forage and nesting habitat. Because of this, we've created a list of traits to seek out when selecting a good mixture of the best bee plants for your pollinator garden. Looking for plants that fit into one or more of these categories is a far more effective way to build a pollinator garden than by simply cherry-picking plants off a list based on what appeals to you. The best pollinator gardens include a mixture of plants for a mixture of bee species. The aim is to please as many different bee species as possible.

Flowers with big "landing pads:" Bumble bees are some of our biggest native bees, and they need a sturdy landing pad before they can settle on a flower. This makes plants with large, lobed, lower petals ideal. And, unlike smaller bees, bumble bees can use their body weight to pop open flowers with enclosed nectaries. In fact, bumble bees are the only bees capable of pollinating hooded monkshood flowers (Aconitum ssp.). They're also adept at popping open the blooms of snapdragons, Baptisia, lupines, and many members of the pea and bean family. Bumble bees have very long tongues, too, placing them on a very short list of bee species capable of drinking nectar from deep tubular flowers like Monarda, garden phlox, and some salvias (though sometimes bumble bees "cheat" and bite through the base of the flower to access its nectar, rather than entering from the open end of the blossom).

Plants with many small flowers: On the opposite end of the size spectrum from hefty bumble bees are thousands of species of itty-bitty native bees. These little guys lack the long tongues of the their bumble cousins, so they need to access nectar from the shallow, exposed nectaries of smaller flowers. Any plant with clusters of tiny flowers, such as goldenrod, oregano, and angelica, are among the best bee plants to include in your garden. Also in this category are daisy-type flowers that consist of hundreds of tiny flowers collected together to create a central disc surrounded by petals. Plants like Shasta daisies, sunflowers, coreopsis, and black-eyed Susans are perfect choices.

Plants with hollow stems: Unlike European honey bees who are social nesters that build a hive, most native bee species are solitary. Females build brood chambers either in small holes in the ground or in hollow plant stems. They also sometimes take shelter for the winter in these hollow plant stems. Because of this, some of the best bee plants out there are those that focus on providing this important nesting habitat. Excellent plants to add to your pollinator garden for this purpose are bee balm, raspberry brambles, coneflowers, elderberries, mountain mint, goldenrod, ironweed, ornamental grasses, and many others. Leave the dead stems in place at the end of the growing season or cut them down to fifteen inches to create nesting and overwintering habitat for the following season.

Plants that bloom very early... or very late: Also among the best bee plants are those that don't bloom during "primetime." Instead, they provide pollen and nectar either very early or very late in the growing season, at a time when these resources are typically more scarce. Late bloomers, like goldenrod, asters, and certain sedums, are must-have bee plants. So too are early bloomers, such as nepeta, and spring-flowering shrubs like shrub dogwoods, blueberries, and serviceberries.

Plants that are low-maintenance: Another trait worth seeking out for a pollinator garden are plants that do not require a lot of input from the gardener. The less we disturb a pollinator garden, the better. Do not include plants that need to be pruned, pinched, or otherwise catered to. Also avoid any plants prone to diseases and pests. The last thing you want to do is spray pesticides or fungicides in a pollinator garden. These products can have a very negative impact on pollinator health, as well as on the nectar fitness of the plants on which they've been applied. The best bee plants are carefree and require very little effort to maintain.

Say no to doubles: While this list of the best bee plants focuses mostly on the traits you want in pollinator garden plants, there's one trait you definitely don't want: double flowers. Yes, flowers with a thick layer of petals are often considered beautiful by people, but they're pretty useless to pollinators. Double varieties of coneflowers, sunflowers, Shasta daisies, columbines, and many others have nectaries that are completely inaccessible to pollinators. Bees simply cannot make their way through all those layers of petals to find the nectar. And, to top it off, some double flowers don't even produce any nectar at all.

Two other ways to please the bees

In addition to including a broad diversity of plants with these traits, there are two other things you can do to create a quality pollinator garden.

Don't mulch everywhere: Yes, I know all the reasons why gardeners should mulch, but many species of native bees nest in small holes in the ground. If you cover every square inch of bare ground with mulch, they'll have nowhere to set up their brood chambers. Leave some exposed soil and keep a sharp eye out for small holes in the ground. Though they're solitary nesters, individuals of some species dig holes very close together to form a sort of colony. On sunny days, when the bees are flying in and out of the holes, it's great fun to watch them work.

Learn to ID the bees: Because there's a great diversity of bees out there, do yourself a favor and learn to identify as many species as you can so you can easily spot them in your garden and teach others about these important insects. You can plant a plethora of the best bee plants, but if you can't identify who's feeding on them, you're missing half the fun!
A big THANK YOU to Nature Hills Nursery for helping us share this important information on how to provide native pollinators with quality nectar and habitat plants. Do you have a pollinator garden? Please tell us about it in the comment section below.
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Choosing the best bee plants for a pollinator garden

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This post may contain affiliate links. If you click on an affiliate link and make a purchase, we receive a small commission at no extra cost to you, which helps to support our site. Find our full disclosure here. It's a mighty good thing that so many gardeners have bees on the brain these days.

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Follow these simple steps to create a pollinator-friendly landscape around your home or workplace.

Use a wide variety of plants that bloom from early spring into late fall.
Help pollinators find and use them by planting in clumps, rather than single plants. Include plants native to your region. Natives are adapted to your local climate, soil and native pollinators. Do not forget that night-blooming flowers will support moths and bats.

Avoid modern hybrid flowers, especially those with "doubled" flowers.
Often plant breeders have unwittingly left the pollen, nectar, and fragrance out of these blossoms while creating the "perfect" blooms for us.

Eliminate pesticides whenever possible.
If you must use a pesticide, use the least-toxic material possible. Read labels carefully before purchasing, as many pesticides are especially dangerous for bees. Use the product properly. Spray at night when bees and other pollinators are not active.

Include larval host plants in your landscape.
If you want colorful butterflies, grow plants for their caterpillars. They WILL eat them, so place them where unsightly leaf damage can be tolerated. Accept that some host plants are less than ornamental if not outright weeds. A butterfly guide will help you determine the plants you need to include. Plant abutterfly garden!

Create a damp salt lick for butterflies and bees.
Use a dripping hose, drip irrigation line, or place your bird bath on bare soil to create a damp area. Mix a small bit of table salt (sea salt is better!) or wood ashes into the mud.

Spare that limb!
By leaving dead trees, or at least an occasional dead limb, you provide essential nesting sites for native bees. Make sure these are not a safety hazard for people walking below. You can alsobuild a bee condo by drilling holes of varying diameter about 3 to 5 inches deep in a piece of scrap lumber mounted to a post or under eaves.

You can add to nectar resources by providing a hummingbird feeder.
To make artificial nectar, use four parts water to one part table sugar. Never use artificial sweeteners, honey, or fruit juices. Place something red on the feeder. Clean your feeder with hot soapy water at least twice a week to keep it free of mold.

Butterflies need resources other than nectar.
They are attracted to unsavory foodstuffs, such as moist animal droppings, urine and rotting fruits. Try putting out slices of overripe bananas, oranges and other fruits, or a sponge in a dish of lightly salted water to see which butterflies come to investigate. Sea salt provides a broader range of micronutrients than regular table salt.

Learn more about pollinators
Get some guidebooks and learn to recognize the pollinators in your neighborhood. Experiment with a pair of close-focusing binoculars for butterflies, bees and hummingbirds.

For More Information

Attracting Pollinators to Your Garden Using Native Plants (Eastern United States) (PDF, 3.5 MB) - developed and published by the USDA Forest Service providing a guide to providing habitats for pollinators in the eastern United States.

Attracting Pollinators to Your Garden Using Native Plants (PDF, 3.2 MB) - developed and published by the Lolo National Forest, Missoula, Montana, providing a guide to providing habitats for pollinators primarily in the western United States.

Gardening for Native Bees in Utah and Beyond (PDF, 3,9 MB) - a Utah Pests Fact Sheet published in January 2013 by Utah State University Extension and Utah Plant Pest Diagnostic Laboratory. This fact sheet provides guidance for plant selection to garden for pollinators, including some 200 garden plant genera nationwide and a table of their flowering phenologies (in northern Utah).

Plants for Pollinators in the Inland Northwest (PDF, 3.1 MB) - a USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Technical Note, TN Plant Materials No. 2B, October 2011. This technical note provides guidance for the design and implementation of conservation plantings to enhance habitat for pollinators including bees, wasps, butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds. Plant species included in this document are adapted to the Inland Northwest, which encompasses northern Idaho, northeastern Oregon and eastern Washington.

Learn How You Can Use Agroforestry to Help Pollinators

The April 2015 issue of the Inside Agroforestry Newsletter has hit the streets on the National Agroforestry Center website. This issue of Agroforestry Center's Inside Agroforestry highlights ways that agroforestry has supported pollinator conservation and management as well as efforts that have also served to educate the public.

Pawnee National Grassland Receives Its First Pollinator Garden

Noble Energy established a pollinator garden on the Lillifield Pipeline as part of their restoration work last fall. The fenced area was hydro-seeded with plant species native bees and butterflies favor and will help provide a space for these pollinators to thrive. Pollinators are an important part of plant reproduction. Large game animals, migratory songbirds and livestock feast on plants dependent on pollinators for propagation. Pollinators also benefit the agricultural community by proliferating important crop species. Many native bees and butterflies are declining due to the decline of pollinator plants they need to survive.

The Pawnee National Grassland (PNG) is located in northeast Colorado east of Fort Collins, Colorado, and serves as an important reserve of native short-grass prairie formerly abundant along Colorado's Front Range. This project was a cooperative effort between the oil and gas industry and federal agencies. Pawnee National Grassland employees consulted with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), as they recently installed several large pollinator gardens on lands managed under the Cropland Reserve Program (CRP). These areas are located on farms and ranches near the Grassland. The PNG Planner, Biologist, and Rangeland Specialist suggested prime locations and added fencing to keep livestock out while allowing birds easy access to the garden. NRCS staff created a seed mix for the project, and Noble Energy installed the garden this fall at the direction of the PNG Lands and Minerals Specialist. "Everyone is excited to see the pollinator garden this spring. The Pawnee National Grassland is always looking for partnership opportunities such as this to expand our ability to manage the Grassland resources for long-term, public benefit," Acting District Ranger Ken Tu said.

Forest Service is Aflutter with Native Plant and Pollinator Gardens

With a view of majestic mountains in the background, visitors to the Cranberry Mountain Nature Center of the Monongahela National Forest find themselves immersed in a bevy of beautiful plants in bloom and fluttering monarch butterflies. Beneath the natural grandeur, a very essential ecosystem service is taking place - pollination.

In celebration of National Pollinator Week, June 17-21, 2013, the Forest Service invites you to come and visit the beautiful gems called Native Plant and Pollinator gardens currently in bloom in the Eastern Region.
Read more about Native Plant and Pollinator Gardens in the Eastern Region...

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Follow these simple steps to create a pollinator-friendly landscape around your home or workplace. Use a wide variety of plants that bloom from early spring into late fall. Help pollinators find and use them by planting in clumps, rather than single plants. Include plants native to your region.

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- Written By Peg Godwin and last updated by Jennifer Stroud

Pollination is required for most of the fruits and vegetables we eat. Pollinators including bees, wasps, bats, flies, birds, and butterflies are essential to the majority of the flowering plants in our environment. Pollinators are needed in the production of over 130 different food crops. It is estimated that pollinators are responsible for 1 out of every 3 bites of food that we eat.

Pollinators visit flowers in their search for nectar and pollen. During a flower visit a pollinator often accidentally brush against the flowers reproductive parts, depositing pollen from a different flower. The plant then uses the pollen to produce a fruit or seed. Over $15 billion annually is attributed to the value of pollination of food crops, especially fruits, vegetables and nuts

Insects are the most common and abundant pollinators. Among the pollinating insects, the honey bee is relied on to perform most of the commercial pollination. Other pollinators needed include: native bees, ants, beetles, wasps and lizards.

Native pollinators commonly live in fencerows and natural areas. Pollinators are attracted to a variety of blooming flowers on crops, trees, shrubs, weeds and native vegetation. They will visit multiple plant species seeking nectar and pollen throughout the growing season. These native pollinators assist in the production of fruits and seeds that are essential to the diets of wildlife such as small and large mammals and especially migratory birds. It is estimated that there are more than 4,000 native bee species and many other pollinators in North America.

A decline in pollinator populations has been studied and attributed to a loss in feeding and nesting habitats. Also, contributing to shrinking populations is pollution, misuse of chemicals, disease and climatic changes.

What can we do? Pollinators are highly sensitive to many pesticides, especially insecticides, and some combinations of pesticides. Try to minimize pesticide use. Apply pesticides only when needed and carefully read and follow all label information. Some labels limit at-bloom applications to times when bees are NOT ACTIVELY VISITING, such as late evening. "Do not apply to blooming crops or weeds if bees are VISITING in the treatment area."

Invite pollinators to your property. Add plants to your landscape that are specifically for pollinators. You can find the Selecting Plants for Pollinators guide that fits the region by going to the Pollinator Partnership website: www.pollinator.org and click on Planting Guides.

Visit the Extension Master Gardener Plant Sale on April 21 at 1791 Hwy 11 & 55 and ask a Master Gardener what plants are available for pollinators.

The actions of pollinators are responsible for our food supply and surrounding landscapes. Let's do our part to restore the balance.

Click here to Reply, Reply to all, or Forward

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Pollination is required for most of the fruits and vegetables we eat. Pollinators including bees, wasps, bats, flies, birds, and butterflies are essential to the majority of the flowering plants in our environment. Pollinators are needed in the production of over 130 different food crops.

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"Where are the Honey Bees?" Project Launch

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"Where are the Honey Bees?" Project Launch

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Stop at 2:46

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"Where are the Honey Bees" Project Launch Example

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This is an example of a project launch. It addresses the Driving Question, the task, the product, etc.

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The population number of eastern monarch butterflies overwintering in Mexico has been released, showing a 14.8 percent decline over last year, continuing the downward trend that has resulted in an overall 90 percent decline from the population high just two decades ago.

The declines this year are largely attributed to severe hurricanes during monarch migration and unseasonably warm fall weather. Yet monarchs continue to face the loss of their spring and summer breeding habitat in the United States, specifically the loss of their only caterpillar host plant, milkweed, and the nectar plants used by adult butterflies.

Collin O'Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, said today:

"With monarch butterflies now down 90 percent in the last 20 years, we simply must do more if we are going to be successful in reversing monarch butterfly decline. Americans have made great progress in recent years on protecting and expanding habitat for monarch butterflies, as well as native bees and other pollinators, but the monarch continues to struggle in the face of multiple threats, including degradation of their Mexican mountain forest habitat, rapid loss of milkweed habitat in their central flyway, the increased use of pesticides and other toxic chemicals, and impacts from climate change.

"The National Wildlife Federation will continue working with Americans and communities across our nation to plant native milkweed - the only plant that hosts monarch eggs and feeds their young - and other pollinator-friendly plants. We must continue working together to help save the monarch butterfly and reverse the overall trend of declining wildlife populations in the United States."

The National Wildlife Federation's efforts to protect and expand habitat for monarch butterflies, pollinators and other wildlife include:

How You Can Help

We can all get involved in saving monarchs. Here are four things you can do today to make a difference.

1. Plant Milkweed - Milkweed is the only host plant for monarch caterpillars. It is their sole food source. Without it monarch butterflies cannot complete their life cycle.

2. Don't Use Pesticides - Insecticides kill monarch butterflies and their caterpillars, and herbicides kill the plants they need to survive.

3. Create a Wildlife Habitat Garden - Fill your yard or garden with beautiful native plants to offer food, water, cover and places to raise young for monarch butterflies.

4. Take the Mayors Monarch Pledge - Work to get your city or town's leadership to take the Mayors Monarch Pledge and implement practices that protect monarchs and restore habitat at the community or municipal level.

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Monarch Butterfly 2018 Population Down by 14.8 Percent * The National Wildlife Federation Blog

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The population number of eastern monarch butterflies overwintering in Mexico has been released, showing a 14.8 percent decline over last year, continuing the downward trend that has resulted in an overall 90 percent decline from the population high just two decades ago.

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username: Stephanie.Dimmick@d51schools.org
password: OrrinIsMyMan1!

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The Case of the Disappearing Honeybees - Reading A-Z

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Award-winning reading solution with thousands of leveled readers, lesson plans, worksheets and assessments to teach guided reading, reading proficiency and comprehension to K-5 students

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Disclaimer: This material is being kept online for historical purposes. Though accurate at the time of publication, it is no longer being updated. The page may contain broken links or outdated information, and parts may not function in current web browsers.

A Bee is More than a Bug

Be-e-e kind to bees.

They are awesome creatures! Yes, once in a while they sting someone, but only when they feel danger. So don't ask for trouble! Try to be friends with bees. You will bee amazed!

Bee artful

Make a bee from polymer clay.

Polymer clay is available in craft stores. It is easy and fun to work with, and can be baked in the oven to harden.
For this bee, you will need:
Polymer clay in white, black, and yellow (or light brown or orange)

Small paper clips (2)

Large paper clip (1)

Pattern for pieces (optional), attached as a .pdf file.
IMPORTANT! Polymer clay is non-toxic, but don't eat it! If the oven is too hot when you bake it, it can burn and might create irritating fumes.

1. To make the bee, first create the shapes for the wings, body, head, stripes, and eyes. You can use a printed copy of the pattern page to guide you on shapes. You may make the bee smaller, if you like.

2. Put the pieces together to make your bee. To make the body parts stay connected, straighten out a small paper clip and "thread" the parts onto it like beads on a string.

3. After you have rolled a small piece of black clay into the skinniest "snake" possible for the stripes, wrap it around the bee's abdomen, pinching off the the length you need. Make three or four stripes, if you can.

4. Gently press on the tiny eyes.

5. Straighten out the other small paper clip and, using scissors or wire cutters, cut two short pieces from it for the antennae. Use tweezers or needle-nosed pliers to curl the tips. Stick the antennae above the eyes or, more accurately, between the eyes.

6. Straighten out the large paper clip. Curl the middle part of it around a pencil. Stick one end of the paper clip into the bee's bottom.

7. When you are happy with your bee, place her on a piece of foil in a glass baking dish.

PLEASE ask an adult to bake the bee for you! Do NOT use a microwave oven.

1. To bake, preheat oven to 275°. Use an oven thermometer to make sure of the correct temperature.

2. Bake 30 minutes. After baking time is up, turn off the oven, but leave the bee inside to cool off slowly.

Do not bake too long or bake hotter than 275°. Clay may burn and produce irritating fumes.

Tips for working with polymer clay:

Read instructions that come with the polymer clay.

Work with lighter colors first.

Keep sculptures small. Use every scrap and throw nothing away!

Look on the floor for stray pieces.

How about a whole hive?

For another project, make a bee hive and some bees to buzz around it.

To make the hive, first roll the clay into a long snake.

Then wind the snake into a coil.

Make the little bees with just two parts (body and head) instead of three. There is no need for paper clips.

Bake the hive with little bees the same way as the big bee.

Bee Benefits

Thanks to bees, we have apples, oranges, pumpkins, almonds, and many other foods that develop from a flower. When bees drink the sweet nectar from the flowers, they get covered in sticky pollen.

Bee Facts

Bee colonies or hives have tens of thousands of bees. This is about as many people as it takes to fill a football stadium!

Each colony has only one queen bee, a few drones (males), and the rest worker bees (females). The queen is the only one to reproduce. All the other bees in the colony are her offspring.

The queen lives three or four years. She leaves the colony one time to mate with drones from other colonies. Then she spends the rest of her life laying eggs for new bees.

The drones live just long enough to go out and mate with a queen from a different colony.

The worker bees live a few weeks to a few months. They have lots of jobs.

Bees are peace-loving. Only the females (worker bees) sting, and only to defend their little sisters from wasps, bears (like Winnie the Pooh), or other threats . . . like people, maybe. The queen can sting, but rarely leaves the hive.

Bees are vegetarians, eating only plant nectar. Wasps, on the other hand, are meat eaters. They use their stingers as weapons to hunt down other bugs to eat.

Here is a drawing of the life cycle of a honey bee.

The queen lays eggs into the cells of the honeycomb, one egg per cell.

The worker bees feed and tend the eggs. Depending on her age, here are the jobs of a worker bee:

Days 1-3

Cleaning cells of the comb and keeping new eggs warm.

Day 6-10

Feeding younger larvae

Day 8-16

Receiving honey and pollen from field bees

Day 12-18

Making wax and building new cells in the comb.

Day 14 onwards

Guarding the hive entrance, foraging for nectar and pollen.

When the queen is nearing the end of her life, the workers begin to raise a new queen. Their bodies make a special food called royal jelly. To make a queen instead of a worker, they feed a larger portion of the royal jelly to the chosen larva.

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Make some artsy bees to remind you that bees make the world a better place.

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Scientists find evidence that pesticides, disease and other threats are devastating bees. And that could hurt farmers big time.

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Kids Learn Why Bees Are Awesome | National Geographic

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Bees are vital to the world's food supply. To educate schoolchildren about the importance of honeybees, the Sweet Virginia Foundation is using a combination of classroom instruction and hands-on experience. The kids get up close and personal with the insects, donning beekeeper suits and actually interacting with a buzzing hive.

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Colony collapse disorder for Kids - Kiddle

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Colony collapse disorder ( CCD) is the phenomenon that occurs when the majority of worker bees in a colony disappear and leave behind a queen, plenty of food and a few nurse bees to care for the remaining immature bees and the queen.

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Blossoms without bees in China | DW | 28.04.2018

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Global bee populations are on the decline. And in Southwest China they have become so rare that fruit plantations are no longer being pollinated. Farmers are now doing it themselves.

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You won't bee-lieve your ears! Join Detective Mindy and Inspector Raz, an un-bee-table crime fighting duo, as they try to crack the case of the missing bees! It's all in this episode as we explore the Who, What, When, Where, Why, How, and Wow in the world of buzzing bees!

Want to learn more about the science of bee populations? Click here to see some of the resources we used to help write this episode!

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You won't bee-lieve your ears! Join Detective Mindy and Inspector Raz, an un-bee-table crime fighting duo, as they try to crack the case of the missing bees! It's all in this episode as we explore the Who, What, When, Where, Why, How, and Wow in the world of buzzing bees!

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Keep up-to-date with the latest dinosaur science with articles that explore dinosaur habitats, behaviors and body types. Includes range maps and comparisons to present-day animals.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Keep up-to-date with the latest dinosaur science with articles that explore dinosaur habitats, behaviors and body types. Includes range maps and comparisons to present-day animals.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Keep up-to-date with the latest dinosaur science with articles that explore dinosaur habitats, behaviors and body types. Includes range maps and comparisons to present-day animals.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Keep up-to-date with the latest dinosaur science with articles that explore dinosaur habitats, behaviors and body types. Includes range maps and comparisons to present-day animals.