<div dir="ltr">Dear Kevin:<div><br></div><div>I did watch the video but must have missed the sub title on species. Yes, I could see honeybees and bumblebees "visiting the catkins" but the magnification and focus isn't sufficient to confirm which act of foraging is occurring. I can't see whether these bees are collecting pollen or drinking nectar and request better close ups. There's plenty of literature on bees collecting Salix pollen. What I'd like to see confirmed, as a video, are closeups of bees drinking nectar. As you know. there's a big difference between irregular probing with the probosces vs. methodical lapping from floret to floret. The lighting and magnification on your video makes this hard to confirm either way.</div><div><br></div><div>Peter </div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Feb 17, 2015 at 1:05 PM, Kevin Lindegaard <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:kevin@crops4energy.co.uk" target="_blank">kevin@crops4energy.co.uk</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">Peter,<div><br></div><div>I'm assuming you haven't watched the fim or else you would see that the species is Salix aegyptiaca. It's non native from the middle east. I'm no bee expert but there are bumble and honey bees on this willow and possibly others as well. If they're not feeding I don't know what they're up to. </div><div><br></div><div>By the way S. discolor is native to North America.</div><div><br></div><div>Kevin Lindegaard. </div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Feb 17, 2015 at 6:42 PM, Peter Bernhardt <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:bernhap2@slu.edu" target="_blank">bernhap2@slu.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">Good but would you please provide us with the Salix species and any observation of bees visiting the more cryptic female catkins? Willows are used as examples of transitions from insect to wind pollination but the hard data isn't terribly convincing. Some say that some male catkins on some Salix species secrete nectar while others say they don't. Can you see the workers insert their tongues into the bases of the individual florets? Likewise, I'd really like to see some convincing footage of bees taking nectar(?) on female catkins when the stigmas are receptive to pollen. Here in America, you can see certain butterflies (like mourning cloaks) coming out of hibernation to forage on male catkins on warm February days. I've seen them on the European pussy willows (S. discolor?) that have escaped from gardens and are growing wild in wetter areas. <div><br></div><div>Peter Bernhardt</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div><div>On Tue, Feb 17, 2015 at 11:57 AM, Kevin Lindegaard <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:kevin@crops4energy.co.uk" target="_blank">kevin@crops4energy.co.uk</a>></span> wrote:<br></div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div><div dir="ltr"><span style="background-color:rgb(246,246,246)"><font color="#333333"><span style="line-height:17px">I took this video (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi5cu5CSHt4&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi5cu5CSHt4&feature=youtu.be</a>) today (17th Feb) showing several different types of bees foraging on a male willow plant. Salix species are a valuable source of pollen and nectar for bees during the late winter/early spring when there are few other abundant sources available. For more information see: </span></font></span><font color="#333333"><span style="line-height:17px"><a href="http://www.crops4energy.co.uk/src-willows-abundant-source-pollen-bees/" target="_blank">http://www.crops4energy.co.uk/src-willows-abundant-source-pollen-bees/</a></span></font><div><font color="#333333"><span style="line-height:17px"><br></span></font></div><div><font color="#333333"><span style="line-height:17px"><br clear="all"></span></font><div><br></div>-- <br><div><p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><b><span lang="DE" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri;color:rgb(153,204,0)"><span></span><span></span><span></span><span></span>Crops for Energy Ltd</span></b></p>
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