They're at an international convention being held in Mexico.

Try surfing "bee decline."

Good one, hahahahaha. Didn't know bees surfed.

You'd be the one doing the surfing.

Bumblebees are not affected by either our very cool spring weather or colony collapse disorder. You should have bumblebees at least, if not honey bees. Honey bees definitely struggle with cool damp weather, and have been badly affected by colony collapse along with a myriad of other health problems.

I have lots of bumble bees now that the lavender is blooming. Very few honey bees though.

And normally, I do too, but not now. That's why I posed the question to see if others in the area had noticed a recent decline in numbers or if this is a very localized or temporary circumstance.

Like you, I noticed them earlier, then hardly any. Our neighbours usually have a few hives and I couldnt see them this year - maybe they had a problem. There are a few more latlely, but nothing like usual. Have a huge lavender bush that is normally crawling with bees, but now only two or three. Here is a post I did ealier. Have to get those mason bees around.

Here is a link that might be useful: missing bees

My spanish lavender was crawling with bumble bees as usual, too, about 1-2 months ago.
But now I see maybe 1 or 2 bees on it at most--very sad!

I was wondering if a neighbor sprayed or dug up an area where they were nesting. But if this is going on in more areas, then I wonder what else may be happening.
Im in north Edmonds area.

We usually get a fair amoung of honeybees starting end of July and onward when my clover and firetail persicaria start blooming. Now I wonder if they will show this year.

Almost a week later and my raspberries are buzzing with bees.

Lots of bees here now too, honeybees, guess they just needed some warm weather.

Working outside all day. Saw lots of honeybees but no butterflies except one damn cabbage moth.

I have one beehive that has died out in the last two winters. This year I didn't replace the bees and low and behold the hive was cleaned out by neighboring bees. After they cleaned out the hive and push out some old debris and wax, they (or a new swarm) moved in. Even with this one hive I am hard-pressed to see more that one or two bees at a time in any tall clover , and I have a lot of clover. Though I am encouraged that a wild hived found refuge in my vacant hive.

My yard is full of bees. Honeybees and bumblebees. I always notice them because I am allergic to bee stings.

I too had them galore when my lavender and rhodies were in bloom... bumblebees that is. But they're all gone now. Probably at that convention. /sigh Nothing to help out my veggies.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure!

We pulled five gallons of honey out of two hives yesterday.The hives looked healthy and all's well out here in far N.W. Portland. My son has hives in North Portland and he got the same amount.

I am glad to see that people are seeing bees again, and even had a swarm move in.

I read an article couple weeks ago, in the Wall Street Journal, about a town in Maine banning beekeeping in city limits. Apparently a lot of towns back east are doing so, because some people are bothered by the idea of beehives in their neighbor's yard. Not because people are being stung or attacked! No, just bothered by the idea of bees.

How sad! and how disconnected from the real world! Do they think we can get by without bees? Or that they can regulate wild swarms too? Just what on earth are they thinking? The belief is that bees don't belong in an urban environment, even little New England villages, but only in rural environments. Well a lot of garden plants require bee pollination too, not just commercial farms.

Has anyone heard about the same kind of thing going on out here?

BTW mason bees won't totally replace honeybees because they are only active in early spring. The adults are all dead now, and all mason bees are larvae in nests this time of year.

Earlier this year, there was a news on King 5 or Komo, I'm not sure, reporting that bees in western Washington are less this year because of bacterial infection. A bee guy has to travel with his bee hives and let them out to pollinate.

No bee shortage here... they're all over the clover flowering in my lawn ;-)

Things are looking better here. With the recent stretch of warm days, bees (bumbles - never get too many honey bees) are again in evidence, though not in numbers that I think are normal for this time of year.