Pollen gathering

Two days ago we took Jessica out to see the hive.  We wanted to check the sugar-water supply in the coffee can.  It was still practically full, a week after the last check.  Jess noted the huge, bright yellow pollen sacks on the incoming bees as well as some white pollen.  There just are not many flowers blooming right now (crocuses, daffodils), at least in our immediate yard, but as Kathy pointed out the bees can fly beyond our property so they are getting the pollen somewhere.  A few of the early trees are beginning to bud out. Jess said the silver maples are blooming, so my guess is they are getting much of this from trees.
We pulled the tray out from under the screened bottom board to check the mite situation.  It had been over a week since I had cleaned it off and we found quite a few mites, along with many clumps of pollen that had fallen down.  I would say there were probably 1-2 mites per square inch on the board, which is not a sticky board by the way.  Several were crawling around.  I will put some paper in there today and monitor that for the next two days.

The bees should be busy--temps are way above normal, approaching 80 today and tomorrow.  Things will really start blooming if this keeps up.  Sure glad we reversed hive bodies now.