Alex Wild is a biologist at the University of Illinois where he studies the evolutionary history of various groups of insects. He conducts photography as an aesthetic complement to his scientific work.
see his work here
September 26, 2011
Alex Wild Bee Photographs
Alex Wild is a biologist at the University of Illinois where he studies the evolutionary history of various groups of insects. He conducts photography as an aesthetic complement to his scientific work.
see his work here
September 19, 2011
Honey Cave
Extraordinary Bee Stories Spoken With Solemn Truth
=====
The San Saba News
December 9, 1920, San Saba, Texas
Big Honey Cave Sought in Texas; Engineer is Here to Locate the Place.
Fort Worth, Texas, Dec. 1. —The quest of the golden honey cave has begun in Southwest Texas.
Wild bees, for 2000 years or more, have been storing it up in a cavern until 100,000,000 pounds of honey are concealed somewhere. Its value is estimated at a million dollars.
E. B. Rees, engineer, representing a honey refining company, has arrived here to take up the hunt for
the bee cave. If the deposits, centuries old, can be located, a refinery will be established and the honeyed sweetness extracted and bottled for commercial use.
The clew, upon which Rees was sent into the Southwest on his search, came from a magazine "filler" which told of the existence of the honey cave in the "Devil's River country around Menard."
However, when Rees arrived in Fort Worth, he discovered the Devil's River country was not in the Menard environs, so he appealed to the local newspapers to help him in his search for the bee cave.
Finally it was located on Brady Creek, near the San Saba and McCulloch boundaries. The honey
deposit is in a cave, it is thought, far above the river and Rees will go there this week to investigate.
Some years ago, it is said, an effort was made by enterprising West Texans to solve the honey cave
mystery on Brady Creek. A man, carrying a heavy charge of dynamite, was lowered over the
side of the cliff until he was opposite the entrance to the honey cave around which the bees were swarming. He tossed in the explosive, but the fuse, incorrectly set, burned out prematurely and the dynamite charge cut the rope. The man was thrown to the bottom of the cliff and seriously injured. No further effort has been made to secure the honey.
Information to Rees is that the honey cave is centuries old. In fact, it was first reported by the Spanish
missionaries and soldiers who penetrated into the San Saba and Menard sections and founded pioneer missions and forts. The gigantic and aged honeycombs hang from the cavern roof and weigh tons upon tons. The honey has never been disturbed.
Rees has equipment for protection against bees in the event he finds the cave. A suit similar to a deep
sea diver's and equipment with air carrying apparatus is employed in exploring the bee caverns and caves.
thanks to Historical Honeybee
=====
The San Saba News
December 9, 1920, San Saba, Texas
Big Honey Cave Sought in Texas; Engineer is Here to Locate the Place.
Fort Worth, Texas, Dec. 1. —The quest of the golden honey cave has begun in Southwest Texas.
Wild bees, for 2000 years or more, have been storing it up in a cavern until 100,000,000 pounds of honey are concealed somewhere. Its value is estimated at a million dollars.
E. B. Rees, engineer, representing a honey refining company, has arrived here to take up the hunt for
the bee cave. If the deposits, centuries old, can be located, a refinery will be established and the honeyed sweetness extracted and bottled for commercial use.
The clew, upon which Rees was sent into the Southwest on his search, came from a magazine "filler" which told of the existence of the honey cave in the "Devil's River country around Menard."
However, when Rees arrived in Fort Worth, he discovered the Devil's River country was not in the Menard environs, so he appealed to the local newspapers to help him in his search for the bee cave.
Finally it was located on Brady Creek, near the San Saba and McCulloch boundaries. The honey
deposit is in a cave, it is thought, far above the river and Rees will go there this week to investigate.
Some years ago, it is said, an effort was made by enterprising West Texans to solve the honey cave
mystery on Brady Creek. A man, carrying a heavy charge of dynamite, was lowered over the
side of the cliff until he was opposite the entrance to the honey cave around which the bees were swarming. He tossed in the explosive, but the fuse, incorrectly set, burned out prematurely and the dynamite charge cut the rope. The man was thrown to the bottom of the cliff and seriously injured. No further effort has been made to secure the honey.
Information to Rees is that the honey cave is centuries old. In fact, it was first reported by the Spanish
missionaries and soldiers who penetrated into the San Saba and Menard sections and founded pioneer missions and forts. The gigantic and aged honeycombs hang from the cavern roof and weigh tons upon tons. The honey has never been disturbed.
Rees has equipment for protection against bees in the event he finds the cave. A suit similar to a deep
sea diver's and equipment with air carrying apparatus is employed in exploring the bee caverns and caves.
thanks to Historical Honeybee
September 17, 2011
Brandt Automation Bee Hive Foundation Frame Assembler
Wish I had one of these when I built all my frames by hand.
"An indexing conveyor is used to move the frame through 8 stations of assembly. The base of the foundation is placed at station 1 onto plastic clips that will hold the frame in position for the downstream stations. The base is glued and the side bars are stapled into place on stations 2 & 3. Station 4 is where the top of the side bars are glued. The plastic foundation insert is placed on station 5 and supported to station 6 where the final bar is placed on top of the glue that was applied at station 4. The final bar is stapled on station 7 and the completed frame is unloaded on station 8. Finished parts are lined up on an exit rack awaiting inspection. This machine is capable of producing a finished part every 5 seconds."
For more information please contact...
Brandt Automation, Inc.
768 7th Street South Delano
MN 55328
763-972-8888
www.brandtautomation.com
"An indexing conveyor is used to move the frame through 8 stations of assembly. The base of the foundation is placed at station 1 onto plastic clips that will hold the frame in position for the downstream stations. The base is glued and the side bars are stapled into place on stations 2 & 3. Station 4 is where the top of the side bars are glued. The plastic foundation insert is placed on station 5 and supported to station 6 where the final bar is placed on top of the glue that was applied at station 4. The final bar is stapled on station 7 and the completed frame is unloaded on station 8. Finished parts are lined up on an exit rack awaiting inspection. This machine is capable of producing a finished part every 5 seconds."
For more information please contact...
Brandt Automation, Inc.
768 7th Street South Delano
MN 55328
763-972-8888
www.brandtautomation.com
September 12, 2011
Affection of Bees
The Republican Compiler
May 10, 1847, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Affection of Bees.
An elderly lady at Nantes, who had an estate in the neighborhood of that town, where she used generally to pass the summer, had a remarkable partiality for bees, and kept a great number of them upon her estate. She took great pleasure in attending these little insects.
Towards the end of May, 1777, this lady, having been taken ill, was conveyed to Nantes, where she died a few days after. On the day when she was to be interred, and enormous number of bees made their appearance in the house where the body lay, and settling upon the coffin, would not be driven away. A friend of the deceased, wishing to ascertain whether these were the same bees that she had taken such
tender care of when living, repaired immediately to the estate, where he found all the hives emptied
of their inhabitants.
thanks to Historical Honeybee
May 10, 1847, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Affection of Bees.
An elderly lady at Nantes, who had an estate in the neighborhood of that town, where she used generally to pass the summer, had a remarkable partiality for bees, and kept a great number of them upon her estate. She took great pleasure in attending these little insects.
Towards the end of May, 1777, this lady, having been taken ill, was conveyed to Nantes, where she died a few days after. On the day when she was to be interred, and enormous number of bees made their appearance in the house where the body lay, and settling upon the coffin, would not be driven away. A friend of the deceased, wishing to ascertain whether these were the same bees that she had taken such
tender care of when living, repaired immediately to the estate, where he found all the hives emptied
of their inhabitants.
thanks to Historical Honeybee
September 5, 2011
grizzly
Algona Advance
November 28, 1907, Algona, Iowa
One of California's Big Bears Makes Raid in Ventura County.
From the Los Angeles Times
Last night a giant grizzly destroyed an entire apiary at the head of Matilija Canyon, four miles foot the famed Ortega Rancho, in Ventura county, gorging himself with honey, and went lumbering up the mountain side, leaving tracks fourteen inches long.
This morning the apiarist found crushed stands and masses of honey strewn about where his forty hives had stood, and was so frightened that he ran to Ortega's without a hat. Many hunters on horseback started on bruin's trail, but he has evaded them.
The scene of the depredation is not many miles from the place where Captain Allen Kelly laid hold of Monarch, the great beast now in Golden Gate park, in 1889, and, owing to the immense size of the
tracks, it is believed this may be the mate of the huge captive in, San Francisco.
It is generally believed that the California grizzly is almost extinct, and the appearance of this one where none had been heard of for many years will be a surprise to old hunters.
The last known physical specimen of a California grizzly was shot and killed in Fresno County in 1922
more information about Monarch here
thanks to Historical Honeybee
November 28, 1907, Algona, Iowa
One of California's Big Bears Makes Raid in Ventura County.
From the Los Angeles Times
Last night a giant grizzly destroyed an entire apiary at the head of Matilija Canyon, four miles foot the famed Ortega Rancho, in Ventura county, gorging himself with honey, and went lumbering up the mountain side, leaving tracks fourteen inches long.
This morning the apiarist found crushed stands and masses of honey strewn about where his forty hives had stood, and was so frightened that he ran to Ortega's without a hat. Many hunters on horseback started on bruin's trail, but he has evaded them.
The scene of the depredation is not many miles from the place where Captain Allen Kelly laid hold of Monarch, the great beast now in Golden Gate park, in 1889, and, owing to the immense size of the
tracks, it is believed this may be the mate of the huge captive in, San Francisco.
It is generally believed that the California grizzly is almost extinct, and the appearance of this one where none had been heard of for many years will be a surprise to old hunters.
The last known physical specimen of a California grizzly was shot and killed in Fresno County in 1922
more information about Monarch here
thanks to Historical Honeybee
September 3, 2011
cyberbee
A beekeeping friend posted this link on the San Francisco Beekeepers site. I have been looking at it for days now. It is full of amazing photos and information on bees from all over the world. I was particularly interested in the adaptations some bees have made to the varroa mite problem. I posted two of the photos describing these adaptations. Look on the site for more...
"cyberbee.msu.edu is a service provided by Zachary Huang, Department of Entomology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA. Formerly called www.cyberbee.net (which is now synonymous with cyberbee.msu.edu), the site was established as a portal for honey bee related information, which include honey bee biology, research and beekeeping."
"cyberbee.msu.edu is a service provided by Zachary Huang, Department of Entomology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA. Formerly called www.cyberbee.net (which is now synonymous with cyberbee.msu.edu), the site was established as a portal for honey bee related information, which include honey bee biology, research and beekeeping."
September 2, 2011
best of our knowedge radio show on bees
The Wisconsin Public radio show To the Best of Our Knowledge just aired an hour long episode on honeybees on August 28th. It is a good listen.
listen to it here.
listen to it here.
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