Solution to the Honey Bee Mystery

Editor

As Randy Gay hypothesizes in his "Gallery" photo and caption, the honeybees (Apis mellifera) at his bird feeder are very likely after grain dust within.

I observed a similar situation here at Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History (York, South Carolina, USA) in late January 2006. On a warmer-than-usual midwinter day, dozens of honeybees were visiting the only flowers around--those on a camellia shrub in my front yard. However, when my fellow citizen scientist wife Susan approached a platform bird feeder stocked with cracked corn, whole corn, and white millet, she saw even more bees plowing through the seed with their heads.

Using the magic of the Internet, I inquired of several entomology listervs what might be happening and learned that grain-feeding among honeybees is actually quite common. Normally these industrious insects get carbohydrates from flower nectar and much-need protein from flower pollen, but when blossoms are scarce they go exploring--especially for the latter.

Although corn is high in carbs (in the form of starch), it also contains some protein, so my honeybees--and those at Randy Gay's feeder--undoubtedly were gleaning grain dust so they could take protein back to developing larvae in the hive.

Some beekeepers familiar with this phenomenon actually put out high-protein soy flour in early spring and late fall when Honeybees are still active but there are few flowers on which the bees can forage. I did a photo essay on all this a few months before I started contributing to The Citizen Scientist; it's at http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek060122.html

Bill Hilton Jr., Executive Director
Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History
education@hiltonpond.org

Another Answer to the Honey Bee Mystery

Editor,

It seems to be a common phenomenon in early spring before many sources of pollen are available. See http://www.newhampshireaudubon.org/atn_insects.html

Dave Crane

Barred Owl Stories

Editor,

I enjoyed your piece on barred owls ("Forrest Mims' World of Science," The Citizen Scientist, June 2009). I thought you might like to hear about some barred owls I got to know back in the last century.

I used to live on an estate situated between Mission San Jose and the San Antonio River, and was able to observe a family of barred owls for a number of years. The monkey-like barks, as strange as they seemed at first, were tame in comparison to the menacing sounds I heard one evening. I had just pulled up in front of my house and was getting out of the truck, when I heard a sound like monster from a horror movie. It was unlike any animal sound I have ever heard. I turned my flashlight on the source, and it was one of the owls in a nearby tree, about 20-30 feet away, clearly looking at me and howling in a menacing manner. And he wasn't scared of me, as he stayed in place and screeched/howled/barked at me for several minutes, then flew away into the trees. I can't remember what season it was, but a few months later I saw a young one, in the company of two adults. So maybe that was the warning of a protective parent.

Another time I came across one of them during the middle of the day. He was in the tall grass at the base of a large pecan tree and must have heard me coming. I saw him rise out of the grass, and he flew up to a branch about 30-40 feet above the ground. As he flew up, I counted four silent wing strokes. He was quite the athlete.

Another time I found the body of one of the adults in the grass at the bottom of another pecan tree. Its throat was torn, but there wasn't a lot of blood, nor were there any other wounds. Maybe he (she?) was already dead when another animal nibbled on him? I took some measurements before I buried him: 16" tall, with a 3 1/2" spread of his talons, and a 48" wingspan. (I'm still looking for those photos) I
buried him out near Ruby, one of my favorite dogs, a red Dobie. I used a post-hole digger and set him in the grave in an upright position, so that he could see his way around in the next world.

Thanks again for your own contribution to the lore. I also enjoyed Audubon's account.

A regular reader,

Rick Pratt


Response to a Science Project Inquiry

The following was sent to a student who attended the awards banquet of the San Antonio section of the American Chemical Society on 21 May 2009. The student was responding to the keynote talk, part of which the ACS posted on YouTube (go here and scroll to end of page for links). Editor.

You can find all kinds of science data online.

For local weather data: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ewx/ To see 24 hours of data for the stations around San Antonio, click on "Observations (under "Current Weather") in the left margin or go here:  http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ewx/?n=currents.htm You will be able to select from a number of stations. To see historical data for temperature and rainfall going back more than a century, poke around the sites above or just go here: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ewx/?n=satclidata.htm From this site you can download monthly averages of the entire temperature and rainfall record for San Antonio. To find historical climate for a few other nearby cities, go here and see the lower box: http://www.weather.gov/climate/local_data.php?wfo=ewx

To learn much about air pollution transport, use the Navy Research Lab's site: http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/aerosol_web/ This site includes both satellite data and forecast visualizations. It deserves some quality exploring time. I usually go straight to the second box and select "NAAPS Forecast Loop" from the forecast loop row. Note that you can look at archives for previous forecasts. Take your time and be sure to read the text on these plots to know what you're looking at.

There's much, much more online. For example, I manage site 21 in the US Department of Agriculture's UV-B Network at: http://uvb.nrel.colostate.edu/UVB/index.jsf This site will teach you much about UV--and allow you to find out how pollution affects UV. Just compare the NAAPS archive forecasts to see if major dust and smoke events reduce the UV-B. You will need to spend time learning your way around these sites. But once you do, the sky's the limit. Let me know if you have any questions.

Forrest M. Mims III
www.forrestmims.org
www.sunandsky.org Follow my science at twitter.com/fmims

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