Non Birding Bill and I stopped at Midtown Global Market today. As we were locking up our bikes, I looked down and saw a honey bee flying between us and then land on some plantings. It's weird, I can pick out a honey bee even in fight from the thousands of other hymenoptera species in the US. But, what was odd was that we were seeing this bee right in the heart of Minneapolis. Thanks to Colony Collapse and varroa mites, foul brood and all the other nasties that afflict the honey bee, there really aren't wild hives any more. Now, if you take into account that the average bee flies two and a half miles away from her hive while foraging (that's average, it's possible for a forager to go as far as five miles) and that it's illegal to keep bees in Minneapolis and St. Paul...is someone keeping a secret hive near the market?

Interesting.