Lake County photographer captures resilience of Valley fire bees

Lake County amateur photographer John Mackesy started by photographing bees in the overgrown school garden at the Coyote Valley Elementary School in Hidden Valley Lake. That was 2013, two years before the Valley fire swept through the area and disrupted the lives of all living creatures in its path.

At the time, “I was mostly pulling weeds, but the bees got to know me so well, and I started taking pictures,” said Mackesy, 71, a retired substitute teacher and former mail carrier. He used his Nokia cell phone, but because of screen glare, it was difficult to get a good shot. Mackesy found himself holding a flower with a busy pollinating bee in one hand and the phone in his other hand.

“I was lucky to get one good shot out of 500,” he said. “I just happened to get lucky because I’m persistent.”

In 2015, he stepped up to a Sony camera with a fixed macro lens for the close-up shots, and parents of the Coyote Valley students stepped up to create flower and vegetable beds in the garden, aided by Mackesy’s wife Elsie, also a retired teacher.

Lowe’s Home Improvement store in Cotati contributed $4,550 and built the beds; Whole Foods Markets kicked in another $2,000.

The garden held honeysuckle, lavender, sage, pumpkin blossoms, sunflowers, morning glories and zinnias on Sept. 12, 2015, when the Valley fire destroyed or damaged 2,048 structures in Lake County and reduced 76,000 acres to ashes.

It was nine days before Mackesy and his wife could return to their home.

“I went to the school garden, and there were thousands and thousands of bees,” he said. “They were dark from soot, and they covered all the flowers. I sprayed them with a hose so they could drink water off the flowers.

“We call them refugee bees. Most of their foraging area was wiped out, but the school garden helped save the wild bee colony.”

Shane Lee, principal of Coyote Valley Elementary, said Mackesy is “at the top of the school garden hierarchy” and is a legend in the area because of his bee photos. As for the school garden, he said, “I can’t imagine a more appropriate reflection of how the community came together” after the fire.

Mackesy said he had no idea the Western honey bees he tended would find their way onto the walls of a Calistoga coffee shop. But there they are, on two-dozen vibrantly colored metal prints that will remain on exhibit through December at the Calistoga Roastery.

The exhibit is meant to celebrate the survival of those resilient Valley fire refugee bees and to encourage other people to plant flowers and herbs that help wild bees in a time of diminishing habitat.

“I want people to look at the photos and see bees as individuals,” Mackesy said. “People think they’re just born for the hives, but I could see their eyes looking at me. I met a few I did relate to on an individual level. I realize there is something bigger than me.”