I just went out to see if I could get a photo, but by now the air (breeze) at 3:30p has cooled and there were no bees. They were working the snowdrops in the second photo, not a good pic, there are snowdrops the length of the border.

Very pretty! I should plant some snowdrops! We're still buried under snow...more snow coming tomorrow...and it snowed lightly ALL morning.

My new neighbor has a bee hive. She leaves food for them, sugar water, in case they wake up and want a snack.

I wonder how the daffodils will do this year as we've had VERY little snow. I did see them coming up down in the orchard, but seems they do better after a snowy winter. We've had quite a bit of other moisture tho i.e. rain.

These honey bees were on the small size. Same coloring/markings as honey bees so I just assumed they were. Yeah, the bees must have gotten up for a snack! : )

We rarely have snow and daffodils thrive. I suspect it's any moisture, not just snow, which they like.

Snowdrops are going over here and some daffs are out already.

It's just an observation. Of course any moisture is good.

I was just thinking about this the other day -- what about the insects. I saw some things flying about, I know flies but couldn't get a good view of what else. I know we humans in cold climates think warm days in winter are the best thing ever, but they're NOT. More than a few days and plants start to wake up, and then the insects. Some pollinators will survive, some will not. I'm concerned about the bumbles -- IDK if the queen will die if she ventures out too early or whether she can return to hibernation. They had a segment on the local news radio about how this is not good for the plants. (yes I know it's more complex than simply warm weather, but we are past the winter solstice and the days are getting longer, which is another signal to plants to start their slow wake up -- the warm days accelerate it, and we've been above average for at least a week now, in the mid to upper 50s for a least a few days, and broke a record yesterday with temps in the 60s. In February. In Michigan).

We had a slight warming this week and on Wednesday my daughter came over to visit with her two dogs. They and Chewie were in and out constantly. Her dogs love my backyard because they don't have one of their own. Anyway, after a few hours we found a mayfly on the table inside. I thought that was weird for this time of year. Not that I know anything about their life cycle.

My cornelian cherry has opened up its blooms over the past 2 days. There are lots of daffodils up by about 3-4 inches - but I didn't notice any of the snowdrops blooming when I was out pruning on Thursday (got that, and the dormant spraying, done just in time it seems!)

I've seen some insects flitting around, but haven't noticed any bees - interesting since I am farther south than schoolhouse_gwagain - but maybe the still cold temps (20s to low 30s) at night, up until Thursday, had an effect?

Lenten roses have been showing their blossoms for a couple of weeks already.

I LOVE cornelian cherry. I so wish I had bought one years ago,

This morning when I went out to refill the bird feeders, it just felt like spring - even though it was only 28F. The little birds are starting to since their spring songs, and the woodpeckers are drumming madly.

Petalique, that cornelian cherry is by far the earliest bloomer every year. A few weeks ago I noticed the house wrens and a few other birds seeming to be nibbling on the half expanded flower buds.