Hello everyone and welcome to this new post on the Explora Natura blog. Today we want to commemorate World Bee Day, celebrating one of the most important insects on our planet.
Such is their importance, that it is said that the day bees disappear from the Earth will be the moment when the countdown to the extinction of the human species begins.
We want to start today with an article published a few years ago in the newspaper La Vanguardia, written by AP Foriscot. It reads as follows:
«"There exists in Australia, and I believe in other countries as well, a peculiar little bird. A little bird dressed in dark feathers. If it lands on the ground, no one notices it, for its color closely resembles that of the earth. It possesses only a very delicate little voice, with which it modulates its insistent call to attract the attention of the so-called honey hunters.".
I believe that in Australia, long ago, there were men who traveled through the virgin forests searching among the hollows of tree trunks for the hidden natural hives, the refuge of the swarm of bees, with their city of honeycombs overflowing with honey. That peculiar little bird we've been referring to, squawking and darting back and forth, guided the honey hunters to the very foot of the gigantic eucalyptus tree where the bees lived and guarded their stores of sweetness.
The wild swarm tracker was guided there by the officious little bird. Once the hive was plundered, a few pieces of oozing bromeliads were left on the ground as payment for the good services of the guiding bird, who has a sweet tooth and whom I don't admire. No; I find him rather unlikeable.
Going back in time, we learn that the king of Creation, humankind, already industrious, was beginning to learn a great deal about the life and habits of bees. He was gradually discerning between the fabulous and the real in his observations of the swarm's biology. Humans were beginning to systematize the extraction of clear water. In that remote era, it was already known that for the bees' sustenance, for them to find favorable and exploitable ground, the hives had to be placed downwind of the north or north winds. In pleasant locations, at the bottom of valleys, facing south, and where there was abundant mud-blooming vegetation such as sage and ivy. Broom was frowned upon, as it produced mediocre honey. Boxwood was also rejected. The proximity of a stream, some current of fresh, pure water that the bees consume in abundance, was a desirable condition.
The best beehives, the artificial dwellings of the bees, were made of cork, constructed from the spongy bark of the cork oak. The hole in the hive wall, through which the bees entered and exited, had to be small, so that their blades wouldn't penetrate it. It was recommended that the bees be small, long, hairless, golden, shiny, and sparkling like gold.
The poet Virgil, author of the "Georgics," and despite his fanciful nature, was a masterful beekeeper. "The Divine Beekeeper" is the title of this religious play by Lope de Vega. I haven't read it. But I like the title. And I can imagine the theme.
POSTSCRIPT.— It's been years since I've been among the bees. But my passion for them remains strong. — AP FORISCOT
We hope you enjoyed this little story, a tribute to our beloved helpers in so many aspects of life. And of course, celebrate with Explore Nature International Bee Day.
