>> Many of us beleive that the true percentage
>> of hives lost nationally to CCD was 2-5%.
>> To back that statement up with real world 
>> facts, consider that the CA almonds were 
>> pollinated without a shortage and there was 
>> never a shortage of package or queens bees 
>> in spring 2007.  Sorry we just did not have 
>> a huge national loss or shortage of bees!
>
>I haven't heard "many" people express this view,
>but a few persist in making the claim despite being
>firmly and repeatedly contradicted by the people who
>have actual feet on the ground doing things like
>counting CCD deadouts, tallying the confidential
>survey responses, and so on.

The "actual feet on the ground" sound like statistically insignificant 
anecdote (can't see the forest for the trees), which is about all we can 
say for the big picture provided by non-random surveys; almonds tell an 
aggregate story, as does the supply of package bees.  Don't almonds and 
packages tell the most reliable stories about the broad impact of 
CCD?  "Actual feet on the ground" may have immense value in understanding 
details, but that's a very unreliable place to find an accurate big 
picture.

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