According to a news source, the honey bee population is on the decline in northwestern Pennsylvania due to the four Ps — parasites, pathogens, pesticides and poor nutrition due to the loss of diversity and abundance of flower plants in the landscape. Pennsylvania has recorded a 61 percent die-off of bees in the past year. The national rate represents “the second highest annual loss recorded to date,” the report says, noting a 45 percent loss in 2012-13. Pennsylvania’s losses at 60.6 percent are among the nation’s worst, behind only Oklahoma (63.4), Illinois (62.4), Iowa (61.4), Delaware (61) and Maryland (60.9). But flowers are still being pollinated by bumblebees and other pollinators. Thank you for your wonderful comments and favs for my Raspberry leaves photo and putting it on the trending Page!
Lovely capture. We have the same problems here in the UK and everyone is being encouraged to plant bee friendly plants and have hives if they have space. Hopefully we can stem the decline, can't imagine summer without the sound of bees!
Great capture and detail Skip! Your story is very sad. Many people do not realize how important bees are for the pollination of flowers and crops. Many people here in California let bee keepers rent part of their property for their bees.
