Two bee-related items. First, check out the photo sent in by Daureen Matera of White Plains. She discovered a swarm of what look to be honeybees in her yard.

Well, we were in the middle of running a garage sale-June 6th-when we noticed a constant humming sound-a drone, really. When we looked up we saw thousands of bees hovering above the tree in our front yard.  A few minutes later they seemed to have disappeared, but, when we looked up in the tree we saw what we thought was a good size hive, and thought they had gone inside.  That’s when we called someone to deal with it.  A short while later we saw the bees hovering again, and then fly off.  But, when we looked up expecting to see the hive, we saw absolutely nothing.  When I showed the pest control guy my photos, he said there was no hive, it was a very large swarm of bees, something he’d never seen before.  He said the bees were looking for a location to build a hive, and decided our tree didn’t suit, she wrote in an e-mail.

Then there’s “The Disappearing Bees” Talk scheduled for tomorrow at the Van Cortlandtville Historical Society in Cortlandt. The “disappearing,” of course, refers to Colony Collapse Disorder.

George Kummer, a beekeeper with 33 years of experience in the field, will speak on the topic of “The Disappearing Bees” at a meeting of The Van Cortlandtville Historical Society on Saturday, June 20th, at 2 p.m., at The Little Red Schoolhouse, 297 Locust Avenue, Cortlandt Manor, NY.

A longtime Cortlandt resident and a past president of the Society, Mr. Kummer will explain why the public should be concerned about Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and the negative impact it has had in many parts of the world.  With the use of video and interesting props, he will illustrate how the disappearing bee population is impacting the commercial end of the honey business and crops in general.  He will describe what beekeepers are doing to keep the bee industry strong and will have major products from bees available at the meeting.

“The Disappearing Bees” event is open free to the public.  The Little Red Schoolhouse is located at the northern end of Locust Avenue, adjacent to Old St. Peter’s Church and cemetery at Oregon Road.  Telephone on day of event is 914-736-7868.