Will The Real Beeyounce Buzz the Mic
One of the most fascinating insects in Nature is bees. Of course, there are many more wonderful insects that grace our planet helping us with survival.
As a child, my grandmother had several beautiful peach trees surrounding the north side of her home. The peaches were so large, beautiful, and fleshy orange and red. You knew it tasted sweet and juicy as the juice would run down your chin. There were days I wouldn’t wash off the peach because I didn’t mind the fuzz which would evade my face like a bad razor burn from an unsharpened blade.
I knew then it was because of the beautiful pollinators of bees buzzing from bloom to bloom in the spring. The buzzing was loud as I would sit by the bedroom window listening and observing the comings and goings of these magnificent creatures. I even captured a few not knowing my footprint of destruction as a child. However, the memory of those beautiful springtime moments are embedded in my brain with the first time I was stung in the eye by a bumble bee. No more chaos for me. Mother nature has its own rules and guidelines. But I still marveled at their tenacity swollen eye and all.
This brings me to my memorable and cherished experience with bees of all time. A few years ago, I found a beautiful black bumble bee on the ground in my garden. She (yes, I said she) was desperately trying to fly but to no avail.
Because of the size and color most people identify this type of bee as a bumble bee, but these black beauties are in the carpenter bee family. Her beautiful black and blue sheen and lack of fur or hair makes the distinction quite known as they buzzed from flower to flower.
I watched the bee for a while concerned about its welfare and after much consideration, I brought it inside. Placing her on a rose. This would be her new Air BnB. She received 5Star hospitality with fresh distilled bottle cap water, bee balms delight with a taste of honey. I would watch her as her little legs would move the bottle cap closer as she would drink with her proboscis. That day I named her Beeyounce.
Beeyounce despite her inability to fly would buzz for me. I like to think she was saying hello. Over the next few days, I saw her health declining. It still saddened me when I realized she had died sitting on top of the rose. It was her favorite spot. I keep her now in an enclosed plastic bubble when I have children come to the garden so I can tell them about her beauty and her kind. In her death she’s still teaching.
This was such a treat taken care of a bee and its kind which has literally taken care of me through my garden and all gardens all over the world.
It is believed and reported that without bees the world we know would also become extinct within three years.
Since the 1990’s seven to eight species of bees have been reported on the endangered list. According to CBS News Report 2021” There are over 20,000 known bee species around the world, meaning that about 5,000 have been unaccounted for in recent decades.” That means 25% of the bee population is extinct. According to an article published in 2019 Denmark, The UK and North American have seen a decline in bee population by 30 %.
https://www.businessinsider.com/insects-dying-off-sign-of-6th-mass-extinction-2019-2
Please bee kind to yourself in your garden by avoiding toxic sprays which can disrupt and even kill beneficial insects like your bees and other pollinators. Because without Bees the Beeyounces can buzz the mic!
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