To the List,

I have revised my post thinking that I have found two different varroa
mites and a spelling error:

Have you seen the October 2005 "Bee Culture"? Did you pause a minute to
look at the Cover Photo? Perhaps you have; this is a rich and wonderful
marvelous and beautiful photograph with brilliant detail and exacting
focus. I‘ve been studying Zach’s photograph on and off for the last couple
of days; every time I pick it up I see more. I love this photo!

This photograph gives the viewer much to study. This is a photograph about
a beautiful young nectar gatherer, you can tell by the soft downy
appearance of her fluffy furry hair. After landing and taking her first
sip of nectar, she appears to have traveled just enough that she has
bathed her feet and parts of her legs in pollen after having the mouth
parts of her head immersed into the disc florets ripe with pollen rich in
protein. As she has become immersed in the rich sun yellow pollen she
continues to gather nectar on what appears to be an aster or a
chrysanthemum above the stem but possibly something else beneath, leaving
me to puzzle whether the flower is a member of the Asteraceae or the
Symphyotrichum family.

Her proboscis is shown extended and the galea is well dusted.  Her entire
lower body is daunted with bright yellow “dust”. The image is of such fine
resolution that individual grains of pollen can be seen on top of her
folded wings and on the bristles of her hair, even the hair covering her
compound eyes. Her right rear leg is splayed below her abdomen clearly
showing rows of pollen collected on her basitarsus, tarsus, and her foot,
pretarsus. Her left rear leg is also heavily dusted with pollen on her
tarsus and below, but her pollen basket on the tibia above the basitarsus
appears almost void. Near the top and anterior of her right basitarsus
there appears to be a shinny dark and reddish foreign object covered on
the bottom with pollen grains, could this be a varroa mite falling off its
host? Could there also be a varroa attached to the dorsal apex of the
thorax partially hidden behind surrounding hair behind the top of the left
wing?

The center of the flower, defined as an aster on the first contents
or “Features” page of the magazine shines brilliantly as if it were the
center of the sun. It truly is like the sun in that it helps to give life
and sustenance with its pollen and nectar to the colony far away awaiting
the return of this lovely lady.

I went back to the dusty old archives and looked for Zach’s last post, I
knew that it had been a while. I did not realize that it has almost been a
year short a month. Frankly, I realize that folks get busy, I do too; but
I must say that I miss Zach’s enthusiasm and his expertise on BEE-L.

Thanks for a great photograph and thanks to Kim for putting it where it
belongs, on the cover of “Bee Culture”.

Sincerely,

Chuck Norton
Norton’s Nut & Honey Farm
Reidsville, NC 27320

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