Honeybee Highway: Teller Refuge’s 10-acre pollinator plot a boon for bees
Image Courtesy of Perry Backus
Honeybees know when they’ve found a good thing.
Researchers learned back in the 1920s that when bees find a good supply nectar, they perform a special kind of dance that shows their fellow bees where to go.
This summer, there must be a lot of dancing bees around the Teller Wildlife Refuge’s brand-new 10-acre pollinator plot.
On a recent morning, the place was already buzzing as thousands of bees converged on the blooms of lacy phacelia, annual sunflower, prairie Coneflower and small burnet that were part of the 14 species of grasses and flowering plants seeded with a no-till drill in early spring.