Stan Sandler wrote:
 
>I have often noticed the bees flying to spots where my cows salt licks WERE
>(they seem to prefer this to the higher salt content of the blocks
>themselves) and also to puddles of runoff from the manure pile.  I assume
>the bees are collecting salt because they have clean sources of water
>available at closer distances.  The salt licks are also frequently visited
>by swallowtail butterflies.
 
<cut>
 
>We often assume, incorrectly IMHO, that honey and pollen and water and
>propolis are the only things that bees collect.
 
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   I have often noticed bees collecting liquid from outdoor toilets, also.
My uncle Leo, a large scale beekeeper in northern California at the time,
regularly salted some of the seeps visited by bees near his yards.  The
bees preferentially visited those spots on the seeps.
 
                                                        Adrian
 
 
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