Some people questioned my statement that there are no wild Apis honey bees in my region. Well, I don't live in a box. I have hiked the hills of this region in all sorts of weather for ten years and I have *never* seen a bee's nest in a tree or cave. When I lived in San Diego, I saw them all the time, so I got pretty good at spotting them by the flight activity. Usually, what swarms come out end up in the wall of some old house. In this region they seldom make it through the winter. This winter, being especially mild, perhaps some did. I was called to go look at a "wild" bee hive in an old house this spring. When I got there, they were already dead, starved. Quite a few years ago, Tom Seeley did an inventory of feral colonies in an area of forest not far from here. He told me he wanted to go back and do it again. When I said I didn't think any bees would be left there, he agreed that was very likely. -- Peter Borst <[log in to unmask]>