Have You Heard the Buzz?

The buzzing of the bees, actually.

When the widelia ground cover flowers in our back yard bloom, the honey bees come buzzing around in droves. They give me comfort when they're around.

After all, the bee population in the Islands is in peril. They've been under attack by Varroa destructor parasitic mites since 2007, and their populations have drastically declined (e.g., from 419 to 145 colonies in 2008 on Oahu, a 65% wipeout). The Big Island of Hawaii's bee population underwent huge destruction in 2009.

So yeah, they're in trouble.

That's why I'm so glad to see them gathering food from our widelia.