it is the first week of february and the early spring bloom is already here in central california! it is amazing what a little rain, some warmth, and a good dose of sunshine will do. i know it will get cold again and the rain will return (i hope!), but the last few days in the san lorenzo valley have been divine. and our bees know it too.
i'm a naturalist nerd so i notice when things are blooming throughout the year, but i am paying much more attention now that we have a hive of ladies whose survival depends on the timing and duration of the pollen and nectar flows. mid-february is the time of year when hives starve in our area because they run out of honey stores and there isn't enough nectar out in the world to support the hive (note: an observant bee keeper should know when food supplies are getting limited and can feed the bees to get them through the winter). we have been so excited to see our ladies bringing in pollen by the pannier loads over the last two weeks, shoring up their supply of food. we were not sure where the bees were finding pollen at first, but the blooming trees have finally revealed themselves to us with increasing abundance. we are so lucky to live next to the river...while it means a flood risk to us in the winter, it means lots of flowering trees for the bees, especially early in the spring.
bay laurel - the first time i've seen this tree bloom
acacia - i love those yellow puff balls
willow catkins
a couple more trees on the dry, sunny slopes of the sandhills (old marine terraces - complete with shark teeth fossils!) are also in bloom. these trees are about three miles as the bee flies from our house so they could definitely be using them, but are more likely to be foraging closer to home.
toyon (california holly)
manzanita (this bush was buzzing with bees)
all of these blooming trees mean a wealth of supply for our bees right now. they are filling their pollen bags to the brim and coming home with yellow socks too!
lots of activity at the hive entrance as the foragers come back with their gold
pollen socks!
we checked on the ladies yesterday and they are indeed putting up lots of pollen and nectar in the frames and they still have lots of honey to keep them going when this early spring bloom fizzles out in a few weeks. go bees!
