Thank a Bee

Large bees and small bees and mid-sized bees – bees, bees, bees. Although most of us picture honeybees when the subject of bees arises, there are more than 4,000 species in North America (over 25,000 species worldwide) of which honeybees are but one.

Honeybees aren’t even native to the Americas, they’re an Old World species that was brought to the Americas by early settlers who greatly valued the honey and the beeswax that the species produces.

Beside those valuable products honeybees have a much greater value as a pollinator of many, many plants – including a lot of our important food crops. But honeybees aren’t the only bee species that pollinate our food crops, the numerous species of wild bees also pollinate plants that produce food for humans, in most cases wild bees do a better job than honeybees. Wild bees live in small colonies or are solitary and include bumblebees and a host of smaller species.

Bumblebees, those large black and yellow bees that aeronautical engineers supposedly say shouldn’t be capable of flying, are major pollinators because of their large size –

The many species of smaller bees that are even more abundant than bumblebees are also important pollinators –

But bees are in trouble worldwide due to pesticides, agricultural monocultures, modifications in land use, and the changing climate. Some formerly abundant and widespread species of bees have virtually vanished throughout their entire range. As bee populations decline so will the production of agricultural crops dependent on pollination by insects.

Do you like apples? Pumpkins? Watermelon? Blueberries? Almonds? Cranberries? Cucumbers? Pickles? Cherries? Thank the bees that pollinated the flowers that produced the fruit. And thank those bees for a lot of other things you eat, since about one-third of the foods we consume are dependent on insects, primarily bees, for pollination. Those crops are reported to be worth $19 billion in the U.S. In addition to food crops bees pollinate about 170,000 species of plants including many forest trees.

So thank a bee and celebrate World Bee Day on May 20th. You may ask why May 20th is World Bee Day. It’s May 20th because that’s the birthday of Anton Janša (1734-1773) who led the way to modern beekeeping. He wrote books on beekeeping and taught in a beekeeping school in Austria. He encouraged the then new idea of keeping honeybee colonies alive through the winter rather than killing them in late fall by taking all their honey and wax as had been common practice.

Next time you bite into a crisp apple, enjoy blueberry muffins or spread honey on toast – thank a bee and on May 20th take a moment to think of all the good that bees do.

Li'L Foxes

An earlier post outlined an old farm which I periodically visit and enjoy because of the variety of habitats and the interesting features that can be found there. A recent return visit to photograph the wildflowers was the best of all.

The old farm buildings are long gone, replaced by a cabin the owners visit on occasional weekends and vacations. As I walked toward the cabin a furry creature quickly disappeared beneath the deck. Several years ago a woodchuck had taken up residence beneath the deck and became quite habituated to human presence. Without paying much attention, I made an assumption that it was a woodchuck again.

Wrong! I’d paused to look at a titmouse calling from a tree and when I looked toward the cabin again there was a young red fox peering through the wire that covers part of the gap beneath the deck.

Hoping the fox would come out from beneath the deck, I sat on a large rock, camera at the ready. It wasn’t long before the little one emerged –

The young fox was so active that, after a few still photos, it was time to switch the camera to video mode –

There was an obvious personality difference between these two young foxes. The first to emerge was active and curious, frequently looking at the birds passing overhead and picking up scents from the air. It was also less timid than its sibling which emerged later and just sat in place until they both disappeared beneath the deck.

Farewell to the Glen?

In the late 1800s a hotel was constructed along the Lehigh River in eastern Pennsylvania. Called the Hotel Wahnetah, it reportedly had 47 rooms and a number of facilities and activities for guests including a hike to a series of waterfalls in Glen Onoko, a steep narrow valley.

From Wikimedia Commons

Glen Onoko was so significant that it was even shown on the U.S. Geological Survey's 1889 topographic map.

The old hotel burned during a forest fire in 1911 but the waterfalls in the glen remained famous as a destination for hikers. In October 1983 a physician friend and I hiked Glen Onoko during a dry period when the falls were far from their best. The next year during a similarly dry period we returned with others from our local hiking club; I haven’t been back to Glen Onoko since that long-ago hike.

Recent news about Glen Onoko prompted me to get out the old 35mm slides of those hikes and digitize a few of them. Unfortunately, many of the old slides are badly faded while some seem as good as ever – other folks have posted much better photos on-line. Here’s a brief tour of the glen, including two of its three significant waterfalls.

Onoko Falls

Onoko Falls

Onoko Falls

Cave Falls

Both times we hiked Glen Onoko the stream going over the ledge atop Onoko Falls was dry enough that we could safely venture out to take in the view, but others have fallen to their deaths from this spot –

Glen Onoko dissects a plateau, so we hiked along the plateau's rim to enjoy other great views –

Long after the old hotel burned most of the land, including Glen Onoko, was sold to the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) and became State Game Land 141 (17,000 acres+). Glen Onoko has been open to the public, including hikers for over 100 years – at least it was until May 1, 2019 when the PGC closed the glen to the public. Does anyone really think that signs and the possibility of a fine will keep people out? Have they ever?

The reason given for the closure was the growing list of injuries and deaths of people who have ventured into Glen Onoko and the burden placed on local rescue units. Some people who are unaware, or just plain dumb, walk the steep, rocky, slippery trail to the falls in flip-flops, sandals, under the influence, or with small children in backpacks – no wonder there are injuries and deaths.

But the closure also melds with a recently (temporarily?) defeated proposal to close all State Game Land to people without a hunting license – an idea still expounded by some hunters who don’t want anyone else on “their” land. Excluding other users – hikers, birders, horseback riders, mountain bikers, photographers, cross-county skiers – while the number of hunters continues to decline will further erode the general public's support for the PGC – apparently the PGC doesn't care.

Petitions and letters probably won’t prevent Glen Onoko from being closed, but there is a solution to the problem – a land exchange between the PGC and DCNR’s Bureau of State Parks whereby Glen Onoko would become part of the adjacent Lehigh Gorge State Park and an equal acreage of state park land would become part of SGL 141. Why not?