The big news aside from more of my wildlife photos is that we are now in possession of bee hives. I contacted Poelman Apiaries Ltd and offered a corner of our 12 acres for them to place bee hives. As we are in a area where there are no hives nearby, they said yes and on August 3, we woke up to the hives. (They have to move them in the middle of the night.) I was amazed at how active they already are, hundreds of bees were swarming over the hives and we’ve seen honey bees on our flowering plants by the house.
Still pretty active here as far as wildlife goes. One day we had 2 hawk chicks, then the next there was only 1. We never found the missing chick. We still see and hear the young Great Horned Owl especially early evening. Our 2nd nest of Killdeer hatched on July 28. We were lucky to capture this event. The chicks look like miniature Killdeer – so cute. Unfortunately 1 egg didn’t hatch. The fetus didn’t form properly. Mamma came back for a couple of days after she moved the other 3 chicks, hoping it would hatch, then gave up. Waldy found a Bat resting inside the rain barrel. He had to rescue it when it fell into the water. I surprised the Deer when I was over photographing the Hawk. I think her fawn was in the long grass as she stayed close and kept an eye on where I was going. I was very surprised to spot baby Robins still in a nest. They are about ready to leave. Of course the grasshoppers and dragon flies are back in abundance.
4 Responses to “Bees !!! & more Wildlife :-)”
Having those bee hives is a great idea. Will the owners come & check up on the bees now & then? You’ll have to invest in some more perennial flowers for those bees. The nursery can help you out to which kind of plants to get or even Poelman Apiaries. You certainly have lots of activity going on. Glad Waldy was able to rescue the bat. Don’t you have some kind of screen cover over your rain barrel?
Yes, the owners look after the bees completely. We get some honey at the end of the summer as payment for using our land. There are a lot of wildflowers and flowering bushes for the bees to access. We have a lid on the rain barrel, we access the water from the top so we can’t put a screen.
I forgot to ask about all those young birds around – the hawks and the owls don’t go after them??
Probably, but we don’t see. Sometimes we see feathers on the ground but not often.