Honey Bee
Fall 2008
photo by Doreen Miller
Two years ago we discovered a colony of feral honey bees* in a tree at my family’s old homestead in Plutarch (not far from New Paltz). This spring when I checked, the tree was silent. The colony gone. That colony had been about 8 miles from our present home in Highland.
Shortly after that disappointing discovery, I was standing by my front door in Highland and noticed activity at the intersection of the siding on the house. Honey bees!
A new colony had chosen our abode as their own. Now, entering and leaving our house, you are in the bees’ direct path home. No one has been bothered by them, nor do the bees seem bothered by us.
In addition, the mason bee houses we’ve erected have hatched more than a dozen new bees and are currently housing the next generation.
At another location in Ulster County we saw honey bees for the first time in years, busily pollinating, along with many bumble bees.
Now, if our Am. chestnut trees would just grow…*
*See earlier bee & tree stories in the Articles.
