> There are some who say that the symptoms are unique, 
> but they are not. 

This statement evinces a lack of understanding of the 
by now, well-known symptoms unique to CCD.

> The symptoms have been seen with mites, nutrition and 
> combinations of factors

By who?  Where? When?

I am sure that the scientific community would be interested
in hearing this, if it is anything other than a deliberate
attempt to offer a generalization of prior "disappearing 
disease" events as somehow similar to CCD symptoms.

I just sat in on an enjoyable talk by Dewey Carron (UDE) on 
Saturday where he discussed the lack of success in attempts
to recreate CCD-like symptoms when "stressing" bees in various 
ways, including attempts to simulate truck transport, with
bees placed in cages, subjected to heat and dehydration for
extended periods.

> by those who see thousands of colonies from many different 
> organizations yearly. They have been seen for years.

Well that's good to hear!

Please, list some names and contact info, so that all the
people working nights and weekends on CCD can take advantage
of these first-hand accounts.



> Complicating the issue probably isn't the path to a reliable 
> understanding of the big picture. 

Rather than "complicating the issue", I was merely pointing out
that your suggested "key leading indicators" (almond pollination 
and package availability) are inherently TRAILING indicators,
rather than indicators with any predictive or tracking value.

First, only after every other possible option has been exhausted 
will there be a pollination contract that goes unfilled.  Hives
can be borrowed or "rented", contracts can be re-juggled to
admit a new player, and so on.

Second, only when a larger beekeeper cannot make splits will he 
pay the higher cost of packages.  A package shortage would
certainly follow a widespread fall or winter die-off of hobbyist
colonies, but not in larger operations, who are used to buying
only queens or queen cells.  Regardless, it does not reflect
what is happening now.

I'm intrigued that we have a small but very vocal minority who
want to deny the plight of their collogues simply because they
have not seen any cases with their own eyes.  Do you think 
everyone involved is lying, that the photos are faked, that
there is some sort of widespread conspiracy to get funding for
research work that is not needed on a problem that does not
exist?

What would anyone gain from such a conspiracy?

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