Over 60 million people enjoy bird watching there are even countless magazines and websites dedicated to this hobby. I even admit that I too admire the many birds that frequent my backyard. I appreciate their beauty and the role they play in pollination because without birds the workload for bees would be stretched even further.

Since I am a bit of an odd duck and enjoy a challenge I am a "bee watcher." I plant a variety of pollinator friendly plants in my gardens to attract bees. I have found the plant that surpasses all the others in attracting bees and other pollinators to my garden is the Clustered Mountain Mint. The numbers of bees that can be found at any time on that plant can be almost to numerous to count. It is important to note that you only see half the plant in my video below, so you just imagine the numbers of bees that hang out in my garden every day.

How many bees can you count in 33 seconds?

This "hobby" requires that I get an up close and personal view in order to identify the types of bees buzzing around my flowers. One of my favorites is the green sweat bee, they know how to stand out in the crowd.

Source

In 2010, the first Pennsylvania Checklist of Bees was published, identifying 371 species known to have existed historically or currently found in the Pennsylvania Commonwealth.

Source

Recently @doitvoluntarily wrote an interesting post about More People Are Turning To Urban Beekeeping in his post he shared how backyard beekeepers must pay a registration fee in order to keep bees on their property. Being unaware of the "fees and the fines for noncompliance* was good to learn about it before I extended my backyard hobby to beekeeping.

And so I must say....

@doitvoluntarily for keeping me out of the Bureaucratic Doghouse!

Sources:

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v521/n7552_supp/full/521S57a.html

Video taken with my Samsung Galaxy S6 smart phone