Birds vs. bees

BY PATTI ROTH

SPECIAL TO THE MIAMI HERALD

That buzz you might hear among some South Florida bird enthusiasts is about bees — reports that Africanized honey bees, known for their aggressive behavior, are taking over birds’ nesting sites.

In most cases, the bees moved into empty tree hollows or bird houses before birds had a chance to. But there are isolated reports of bees driving out birds that already occupied the nests and stinging baby birds to death, scientists say.

Richard Raid, a University of Florida professor, set up 400 nesting boxes for barn owls in the Everglades Agriculture Area. Over several years, bees established hives in about 50 of them, including at least one that was occupied by barn owl chicks. Raid assumes the babies were stung by the bees. “There’s just hundreds of them flying in and out of the box,” he said. “They totally displaced the owls. The adults never returned.”

In Coral Gables, bees set up housekeeping in several nesting boxes at the home of Daria Feinstein, a member of the Tropical Audubon Society. One of the shelters housed baby mynah birds. Feinstein describes the sight of the bees descending on the nest as something like a scene from a horror movie.

The problem is also attracting attention in other parts of the world, such as Guatemala, where habitat for scarlet macaws is threatened.

“It’s an underrated problem,” said Janice Boyd, an adjunct associate professor at Texas A&M University, whose work focuses on parrots. “In Guatemala, a high percentage of known nesting sites (for scarlet macaws) are taken over by Africanized bees.”

Two doctoral students at the University of Florida are working with Raid on a research project based in the Everglades Agricultural Area in western Palm Beach County, where Raid set up the barn owl boxes as a form of rodent control.

The entomology students are sharing their techniques with the Bird Lovers Club, a non-profit bird education and advocacy organization with members in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. The club is putting up nesting shelters in a wetlands conservation area in Pembroke Pines and possibly other sites for spring nesting season. Cub Scouts from Pembroke Pines and Boy Scouts from Plantation built some of the boxes.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/09/3272515/birds-vs-bees.html#storylink=cpy