Buzz About Bees

Bees are flying insects that are closely related to wasps & ants.  They range in size from 2mm, for the smallest bee species, to the largest at 39mm.  They can be found all over the world except for Antarctica and are found in areas where there are insect-pollinated flowering plants.  Bees are known and highly valued for their role in pollination, honey and beeswax production.

Sweat Bee

A very small bee

Many times, wasps and flies are mistaken for bees.  So, how can you tell the difference between a bee and a wasp? What about a bee from a fly that mimics bees and wasps, such as hoverflies?  Bees are pollen & nectar gatherers, they do not care about your food. Wasps, on the other hand, are attracted to food and will often come to check out what's for lunch!  If a bee-like insect lands on your food, chances are it is a wasp.  The majority of wasps feed on nectar and insects. Although there are pollinating wasps, they do not play a large role.  Bees have fuzzy bodies whereas wasps tend to have smooth bodies with a very thin waste. Wasps and bees generally have four wings, two on each side whereas most flies only have two, one on each side of its body.  Bees carry pollen, wasps and flies do not. And, flies have large, bulging eyes.

Paper Wasp

European Paper Wasp

Hoverfly (Toxomerus geminatus female)

A fly with similar colour markings to a wasp at a quick glance.  But, notice the large eyes.

The Toxomerus geminatus is a very small species of hoverfly. This one is less than 1cm long.  Hoverflies are important pollinators as well, I will cover this on an upcoming blog post.

Bee

Notice the full corbicula (pollen basket) 

Some bee species, such as honey bees, bumblebees & sweat bees, form social colonies whereas others, like carpenter bees, leafcutter bees and mason bees, are solitary.  Solitary bees do not produce honey or beeswax but are important pollinators. They gather pollen for their brood and mix it with nectar to form a paste. Solitary bees nest in the ground, hollow twigs or reeds or within holes in wood. Solitary bees are either stingless or very unlikely to sting except in self defense.  In addition to the social colonies and solitary bees, there are communal bees.  These females share the same nest but provide provisions for their own cells.

Sweat Bee

Notice the pollen covering it's legs and abdomen

Most bees are generalists, that is, they collect pollen & nectar from a wide range of flowering plants. But, there are some that are considered specialists, these bees collect pollen & nectar from one or a few flowering plants.  If anything were to happen to either the bee or the flower, both would be affected as they are dependent on each other for their survival.

Bees are one of the most important pollinators as they are responsible for pollinating the majority of our flowering plants.  Pollinators, such as bees, are responsible for providing us with approximately 1/3rd of our food source.

Although bees are very important pollinators, they are also necessary in other ways. For instance, in addition to honey, honey bees also produce beeswax, royal jelly & propolis.  Beeswax is a natural wax produced by the bees to make their honeycombs. We use it in cosmetics, food production, pharmaceuticals, candle making, polishes and adhesives, just to name a few.  Royal jelly is used by the bees to feed their larvae & queen bee. For humans, it has been used in alternative medicine and as a supplement.

Propolis is a form of bee glue that is used by the bees to seal unwanted (small) openings in their hives (large gaps are sealed with beeswax). It is a mixture that bees make using sap mixed with beeswax and their own secretions.  Propolis has several uses for humans, especially for its medicinal properties.  It's used in cough drops, to treat cold sores and genital herpes, to treat abscesses and wounds to fight off infection and help healing.  Propolis is believed to have antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal and anti-inflammatory properties.  Research has found that propolis contains polyphenols which have antioxidant properties.  It has also been suggested that propolis has cancer fighting properties.  Preventing cancer cells from developing and even slowing their growth and rate of multiplying.  It has also been used for chewing gum, car wax and as a varnish for string instruments.  Although products made from bee products are beneficial, a person allergic to bees can have serious allergic reactions.

Bees are in serious trouble; their numbers have declined in worrying numbers.  Many factors are contributing to their demise (habitat loss, climate change, disease) but the biggest culprit of all are pesticides.  Bees cannot survive without flowering plants.  They are coming into direct contact with plants sprayed by pesticides causing them to be poisoned.  Steps are being made to help bees and to bring their numbers back up, but everyone can play a role.  Leaving a small section of our gardens wild, planting native flowering plants and not using pesticides are just a couple of steps that we can do to help save the bees.

Sources:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee

http://pestworldforkids.org/pest-guide/bees/

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/blogs/queen-of-green/2017/04/how-to-tell-a-bee-from-a-wasp-from-a-fly/?utm_campaign=queenOfGreen-beesWasps-en-05apr2017&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=page

https://www.ontarionature.org/protect/campaigns/pollinators.php

http://www.healthline.com/health/propolis-an-ancient-healer#overview1

http://sos-bees.org

A Visit To Rouge National Urban Park

What a beautiful day it was on Good Friday! My husband and I decided to head over to the Rouge Park for our first official hike of the year to enjoy the day. Throughout the winter we had gone out to some local parks for, what I'd call, nature walks but the Rouge would be more of a hike.

The Rouge National Urban Park is a large park that is still under development. I would say it's in its infancy stages at the moment. There are some good trails but more will need to be created, signage will need to be improved upon and parking is definitely an issue that will need to be addressed! Very few spots are available at some of the most popular trail locations.

There are different trails meandering through different environments. There are trails through forested areas, along river beds and through meadows. Even a marsh and beach trail.

We had a plan on which trails we wanted to do, a few of our favourites. With our stuff loaded into the car, we headed over to our very first trail location. For us, it's about an hour of travel time. We quickly learned though that many others too thought they'd take advantage of the beautiful day we were having!

Our first trail was to be the Woodland Trail. To access this trail we had to drive past the entrance to the Toronto Zoo. Well, being the nice day it was and a holiday, there were many people who thought a trip to the zoo was in order causing a massive traffic jam! We had a quick change of plans and instead headed towards the Twyn Rivers area to hike the Mast trail. Remember the small parking lot issue I mentioned earlier? When we arrived there were no parking spots available. Another change of plans, we headed to the marsh and beach trails. Here we finally found parking!

It was nice to finally get out of the car and stretch our legs. We grabbed our photography gear and headed on our way. There were many people out but it was still a nice walk along the marsh. There were many red-winged blackbirds flying around and I finally saw some of the females. Male red-wings arrive at the nesting locations before the females. There were also some double-crested cormorants with their beautiful blue eyes. Unfortunately they were too far out for me to get any good photographs of them. Many swallows flying around the boardwalk as well.

After a bit of walking we thought we'd head back to the Twyn Rivers Area and try our luck at finding parking. As we had expected, no parking. We headed back out and stopped at the Glen Eagles Vista Trail head which had parking spots available. We had never done this trail so we thought we'd check it out. This trail isn’t far from a major roadway (in fact, some of it is alongside the road) so traffic could be heard occasionally. As the name implies, this is a vista trail that offers scenic views of the Rouge River and Little Rouge Creek valleys. I’m sure it is absolutely stunning in the fall with all the different colours. Besides the scenic views, I saw a couple of American robins and American goldfinches.

We left the car parked at this parking lot and walked down the road towards the Twyn Rivers area to hike the Mast trail. Along the way, we checked out a couple of side trails and walked along the Rouge River for a bit and stopped to have granola bars and a drink of Gatorade. It was nice and not many people were at these locations. Unfortunately the sound of vehicles on the road was easily heard. We saw some deer tracks by the river but since there were so many people out, not much wildlife was seen.

The Mast Trail was very busy with many people walking this trail and setting up small picnics by the Rouge Creek. Not my ideal as I like trails to be quiet but being the day it was, I had expected the crowds. It was still nice to be out though. Once we did part of the trail, we headed back to the car at the Glen Eagles Vista parking lot.

We still had some time before we had to head back home and thought maybe we should try our luck and head over to the Woodland Trail. Would we find parking at this time? Had people gone home for dinner with their family? Turns out there were a couple of spots and we were able to park the car and head out on the trail.

The Woodland Trail is a mix of forest and meadow. It's been one of my favourites for wildlife viewing and insect macro photography. There's also a little trail by the river. There were many people but it was still nice.

All in all, it was a nice day of hiking even with the few little hiccups due to parking issues. I didn't get as many photos as I would have liked but I am happy with the few that I did get even though they are of red-winged blackbirds, a quite common bird at this time of year.

Red-Winged Blackbird (female)

Red-Winged Blackbird (male)

Red-Winged Blackbird (female)

Map of Rouge Park along with trail descriptions can be found at:

http://www.rougepark.com/explore/adventures/Rouge_Park_trail_map_and_visitor_code.pdf

Acts of Protection

Several laws have been inacted to provide protection to vulnerable species.  Below are a few such laws:

The Endangeres Species Act (ESA)
The ESA is a piece of legislation put in place to protect & conserve species of animals & plants that have been deemed to be at risk & their habitats.  The ESA's goal is to prevent extinction and to recover and maintain population numbers. In order for the ESA to offer protection, the species must have been listed as threatened or endangered.  A species is considered endangered if it is at high risk of becoming extinct.  A species is considered to be threatened if it is at risk of becoming endangered.

Species at Risk Act (SARA)
The SARA is a Canadian legislation to protect Canadian plant & animal species that have been deemed to be endangered or threatened & their habitats and also offers protection to those that are at risk of becoming threatened
It's purpose is to prevent the disappearing of wildlife species in Canada, to recover species & to prevent species of special concern from becoming threatened or endangered.

Migratory Birds Convention Act (Canadian) & Migratory Bird Treaty Act (USA law between Canada and USA)
These acts serve to protect migratory birds, their nests and eggs from being collected, sold, hunted or killed without a permit.  They do not discriminate between live or dead specimens so collecting even a feather from a dead bird would be breaking the law and is punishable.  However, there are exceptions and permits can be obtained. 

All these laws have been put in place to protect our wildlife & help in keeping from disappearing forever. It is because of laws like these and the hard work and dedication of conservationists that some species have rebounded & been removed from the endangered species list. Below are just a select handful of such species that I would not have had the opportunity to have photographed had they not been protected.

Bald Eagle
The majestic and much loved Bald Eagle nearly went extinct due to the use of pesticides such as DDT, hunting and loss of habitat.  Populations recovered since it's protection and ban of DDT.

Bald Eagle
Captive bird photographed at the Mountsberg Raptor Centre (Campbellville, Ontario)

Peregrine Falcon
Like the American eagle, numbers dwindled due to the use of DDT but then bounced back after it's ban.  For more on the Peregrine falcon, please see my blog post here. 

Peregrine Falcon
Captive bird photographed at the Mountsberg Raptor Centre (Campbellville, Ontario)

Brown Pelican
Like many others, the use of pesticides such as DDT decimated the brown pelican populations.  With it's ban, their numbers have recovered and they are now off the endangered species list.

Brown Pelican
Photographed in Florida

American Alligator
The American alligator was hunted almost to extinction for its skin.  Once put on the endangered list, the american alligator & it's habitat were protected allowing for their numbers to quickly bounce back. These ancient reptiles were eventually delisted & removed from the endangered species list. 

American Alligator
Photographed in the Florida Everglades

Resources:
ESA:  http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/laws/esa/
SARA:  https://www.ec.gc.ca/alef-ewe/default.asp?lang=en&n=ED2FFC37-1
Migratory Birds Convention Act:  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migratory_Birds_Convention_Act
Migratory Bird Treaty Act:  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migratory_Bird_Treaty_Act_of_1918
http://www.allaboutwildlife.com/animals-saved-by-the-u-s-endangered-species-act