.Insectivorous birds, eg swallows, tits etc may consume hundreds of bees
and so get a cumulative dose. Does this harm them?

Excellent question Chris!  That's the reason that regulators "like" the
neonics, since they are of very low toxicity to mammals and birds.

>I've never heard a weaker argument in favor of using a poison.

I have never heard anyone on this list arguing in favor of using poison.
 Rather, the discussion assumes that growers are going to use pesticides.
 The question then is which ones are least harmful to bees and the
environment.

> What would happen to a freshly split colony, or a colony recently swarmed
or superseded? What other combinations of stressors would make it
vulnerable enough to collapse?

This sounds like a rhetorical question.  Of course any stressors, and there
are many (such as nutrition, temperature, wind speed, nosema, varroa,
viruses, plant allelochemicals, environmental pollutants, and, oh yes,
pesticides) can slow colony buildup.

>About different views:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/30/science/neocotinoid-pesticides-play-a-role-in-bees-decline-2-studies-find.html?_r=0

Ghislain, this newspaper article is nearly a year old!  We have already
discussed at length.  Despite the title, neither study linked any pesticide
to honey bee decline.

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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