Join the Buzz: It's World Bee Day! 🐝

Good Morning 🌞

Welcome to another day of Joy Hour

Today, we're celebrating World Bee Day, an annual event on May 20th dedicated to raising awareness about the crucial role bees and other pollinators play in our ecosystem. Let's dive into why this day is so important and how you can get involved!

Why World Bee Day Matters 🐝

World Bee Day, first observed in 2018, was established by the United Nations to highlight the importance of bees and other pollinators. The initiative was spearheaded by Slovenia, a country with a rich beekeeping tradition, where Beekeeper’s Day has been celebrated since 2011.

Bees are vital to our food supply and biodiversity, pollinating approximately one-third of global food crops. Without these industrious insects, many fruits, vegetables, and nuts would be at risk.

Fun Facts about Bees

• Pollinators like bees, birds, and bats affect 35% of the world's crop production.

• There are over 20,000 species of bees globally.

• Beekeeping dates back 4,500 years.

• A honey bee can visit 50 to 100 flowers in one collection trip.

• Bees communicate through dancing.

• May is the ideal time to celebrate World Bee Day, coinciding with peak pollination in the northern hemisphere and honey harvesting in the southern hemisphere.

Inside a Honey Bee Hive

• Queen: One queen runs the whole hive. Her job is to lay the eggs that will spawn the hive’s next generation of bees. The queen also produces chemicals that guide the behavior of the other bees.

• Workers: These are all female and their roles include foraging for food (pollen and nectar from flowers), building and protecting the hive, cleaning, and circulating air by beating their wings. Workers are the only bees most people ever see flying around outside the hive.

• Drones: These are the male bees, and their purpose is to mate with the new queen. Several hundred live in each hive during the spring and summer. But come winter, when the hive goes into survival mode, the drones are kicked out!

Join the Buzz

Bees and other pollinators are essential to a healthy ecosystem. By raising awareness and taking action, we can help protect these vital creatures for future generations. Celebrate World Bee Day by learning more and getting involved in activities that support bee conservation.

“One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.” 

— Jack Kerouac