Thermal Images of Bee Colonies

The following thermal images of bee hives were taken by beekeepers in the US and Canada. A lot can be learned from studying the photos so I put them in one place to make them easy to find. If you want to add more, please let me know.

Click on any photo to see slide show and captions.

Hives on December 17 in Courtenay, BC on Vancouver Island. © Ernie Daley

East side of hives. © Julee Geier, Seattle

South side of hives. © Julee Geier, Seattle

West side of hives. © Julee Geier, Seattle

South side of hives. © Julee Geier, Seattle

Two five-frame nucs that were purchased in late June. © Kim McGee.

The red arrow points to the height of the Broodminder that read 41F (but the sensor is located in the middle of the hive). The black arrow points directly to the Broodminder that read 60F. Basically, both Broodminder temp sensors are located in the middle of the hive, and right on top of the deep. © Kim McGee

This was taken in Corvallis, OR on 12/15 after a recent snow storm. Temperatures the night before were in the teens. © Ken Baldwin.

Hive near my pump house in December. © Rusty Burlew

Top-bar hive in December. © Rusty Burlew

Hive #3 in December. The bees are already in the candy board. © Rusty Burlew

Hive #4 front side, facing south. © Rusty Burlew

Hive #4 back side. © Rusty Burlew

This hive contained a mouse nest. © Judith Stanton

Flir image of February hive Jenny McComb

Flir image of February hive in Missouri. © Jenny McComb

Debbe Krape wrote, “I felt like I was looking at the beating heart of an organism.”

Note the outdoor temperatures in the upper left-hand corner. These photos were taken before the hives were wrapped. © Anthony Planakis, New York.

It’s been brutally cold here with winds and wind chill reaching -20 F, as you can see in the following photo. These temps (internal) are as a result of using the moisture quilt and the Bee Cozy wraps along with the felt paper. © Anthony Planakis, New York

These cameras are very cool. Here is an alder bug walking across a window. © Victor Berthelsdorf

The white dot in this photo is a single bee flying into a top-bar hive. © Victor Berthelsdorf.

Here is a feral swarm that moved into an empty top-bar hive. © Victor Berthelsdorf

To the right of the window is a feral colony living in the wall. © Victor Berthelsdorf

The colony on the left is strong, the middle is weak, and the right is dead. © Kevin O’Donnell, Arlington Heights, Illinois.

A feral colony living inside a hollow column. © Kevin O’Donnell, Arlington Heights, Illinois.

I received a FLIR One for Christmas and couldn’t wait to check out the bees in my backyard located in Renton, WA. © Tracy Klein.

Why Honey Bee is Two Words

Regardless of dictionaries, we have in entomology a rule for insect common names that can be followed. It says: If the insect is what the name implies, write the two words separately; otherwise run them together. Thus we have such names as house fly, blow fly, and robber fly contrasted with dragonfly, caddicefly, and butterfly, because the latter are not flies, just as an aphislion is not a lion and a silverfish is not a fish. The honey bee is an insect and is preeminently a bee; “honeybee” is equivalent to “Johnsmith.”

—From Anatomy of the Honey Bee by Robert E. Snodgrass

State Insects

The non-native European Honey Bee is the state insect of:

Arkansas
Georgia
Kansas
Louisiana
Maine
Mississippi
Missouri
Nebraska
New Jersey
North Carolina
Oklahoma
South Dakota
Tennessee
Utah
Vermont
West Virginia
Wisconsin

Not one native bee is a state insect. The closest relative of a North American native bee to make the list is the Tarantula Hawk Wasp, the state insect of New Mexico.

Update! Minnesota now has a state bee as well as a state insect. Bombus affinis, the Rusty-Patched Bumble Bee, has been so honored. Good work, Minnesota!