A new survey says America's honeybee hives just staggered through the second highest death rate on record, with beekeepers losing nearly half of their managed colonies. But using costly measures to create new colonies, beekeepers are somehow keeping afloat. Thursday’s University of Maryland and Auburn University survey says that even though 48% of colonies were lost in the year that ended April 1, the number of United States honeybee colonies remained relatively stable. Honeybees are crucial to the food supply, pollinating more than 100 of the crops we eat, including nuts, vegetables and fruits. Scientists blame parasites, pesticides, starvation and climate change for large die-offs.
Honeybees moved into my backyard recently. I guess they somehow attract a lot of different wildlife in some mysterious way, because we now have cardinals, blue jays, possums, chipmunks, and marble lizards living back there too.
For context, I live in Ridgewood Queens, so this feels absolutely insane. Loving every second of it but god damn
You just became a Disney princess.
I’M A BEAUTIFUL BUTTERFLY
But can you paint with all the colors of the wind?
I’ve found that it’s bringing the bugs back in general that causes this wave. Perhaps you or someone near you has planted some new stuff, or let some stuff grow wild. Like someone stopped mowing, and suddenly the bugs have a place to live and explode.