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Following the Wild Bees Following the Wild Bees The Craft and Science of Bee Hunting THOMAS D. SEELEY Design and photographic assistance by Megan E. Denver Line drawings by Margaret C. Nelson PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON AND OXFORD Copyright © 2016 by Princeton University Press Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TW press.princeton.edu Jacket photo by Jorik Phillips All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Seeley, Thomas D., author. Title: Following the wild bees : the craft and science of bee hunting / Thomas D. Seeley ; design and photographic assistance by Megan E. Denver ; line drawings by Margaret C. Nelson. Description: Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2015038694 | ISBN 9780691170268 (hardcover : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Bee hunting. Classification: LCC SF537 .S44 2016 | DDC 595.79/9—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015038694 British Library Cataloging- in- Publication Data is available This book has been composed in Sabon Printed on acid-f ree paper. ∞ Printed in the United States of America 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 Dedicated to the honey bees living in the Arnot Forest Contents Preface ix 1. Introduction 1 2. The Bee Box and Other Tools 30 3. Bee-H unting Season 44 4. Establishing a Beeline 57 5. Timing Bees to Estimate Distance to Home 79 6. Making Moves Down the Beeline 99 7. Finding the Bee Tree 118 8. On Not “Taking Up” the Bee Tree 138 Notes 151 References 157 Illustration Credits 161 Index 163 Preface The popularity of honey bees has skyrocketed over the past decade, so now is a perfect time to provide a book on a second way— besides beekeeping— for people to have fun with these wonderful little creatures. Our subject is an open- air sport called bee hunting. Whereas the beekeeper manages colonies of honey bees that are living in hives he has provided, the bee hunter searches for colonies of honey bees that are living in tree cavities and other homesites they have selected. The bee hunter starts his search for a wild colony by catching bees on flowers and then baiting them to forage at a small bonanza of sugar syrup that he has bewitchingly scented with anise. Next he de- termines the direction to the bees’ secret residence from the paths of their homeward flights. Then he gradually moves his sugar- syrup feeder, together with the bees, down their flight line home— their beeline. Finally, he zeroes in on their mysteri- ous dwelling place: some hollow tree, old building, or aban- doned hive. This all sounds rather tricky, so you might be wondering, is bee hunting something that I can do? The answer is yes. Success in bee hunting, as in all the other truly fascinating games in the world, does not require complex equipment, but it does require some special skills. This book is a guide to acquiring the simple tools and learning the ingenious methods that compose the craft of the bee hunter. While bee hunting is not a trivially easy

Description:

Following the Wild Bees is a delightful foray into the pastime of bee hunting, an exhilarating outdoor activity that used to be practiced widely but which few people know about today. Thomas Seeley, a world authority on honey bees, vividly describes the history and science behind this lost pastime a