> Ted Fischer  wrote:
> Any other yellow jacket experiences out there?
>
> Well Ted, I am in southeast Pennsylvania, near Pottstown, and I have
> not seen one of those big annoying Yellows all season.  Funny thing
> is like you said last year they were everywhere and I figured this
> year would be the bad with them because they were so plentiful.
> Can't figure what's going on.
 
<etc.>
 
The funny thing about nature is how cycles come and go.
 
One year the caterpillars eat every tree to the bare branches, the
next year nary a worm is seen.
 
In 1917, the flu, of all things,  killed tens of  thousands of
people and the next, nada.
 
The Black Death killed a third of Europe's population by some
estimates, not too many centuries ago, but the same bacteria and the
same carriers are still around today, and guess what?  A few people are
sticken annually, but no decimation occurs.
 
For tens of thousands (maybe hundreds?)  of years modern humans have
been living in balance on the Earth, according to the latest studies,
but the numbers have never before threatened the planetary balance or
run into the billions.
 
Even the parasites have parasites.  From time to time things get out
of balance;  we see large numbers of some one species for a brief
period.
 
But then nature seems to find a way of keeping things in check, and
populations return to manageable (sustainable) numbers.
 
This last winter was an example of how bad things can get for bees.
(Didn't  seem to bother the bumbles, tho'.)  My guess is that next
will not be nearly as bad.  Many will attribute that to how much
better they prepared, but IM(H)O it is just the way things are.
 
Regards
 
Allen
 
W. Allen Dick, Beekeeper                                         VE6CFK
RR#1, Swalwell, Alberta  Canada T0M 1Y0
Internet:[log in to unmask] & [log in to unmask]
Honey. Bees, & Art <http://www.internode.net/~allend/>