34 replies to this topic

[KitsAntVa]

Winter should be over soon ish over here, even though we are supposed to get down to 14 degrees some nights and also like a foot of snow or snow storm it should be fine, I understand helping native bees but so many people worry about that because they help plants. Wasps are actually being killed off and dying off quickly and they also support the ecosystem.

[ANTdrew]

With bees you have a charisma factor to get the public behind the efforts. In the end of the day, anything done to preserve habitat for bees is going to help all other pollinators. The monarch butterflies is another big one to rally public support.

[Ants_Dakota]

Winter should be over soon ish over here, even though we are supposed to get down to 14 degrees some nights and also like a foot of snow or snow storm it should be fine, I understand helping native bees but so many people worry about that because they help plants. Wasps are actually being killed off and dying off quickly and they also support the ecosystem.

i wish. in march we get half of all of our snow every year...

With bees you have a charisma factor to get the public behind the efforts. In the end of the day, anything done to preserve habitat for bees is going to help all other pollinators. The monarch butterflies is another big one to rally public support.

MORE MILKWEED!!!

[ANTdrew]

YES! Milkweed helps all insects in so many ways.

[ConcordAntman]

HEY FOLKS, I’VE GOTTEN MAIL!!

A little over 20 minutes ago I got an email from the US National Native Bee Monitoring RCN! It looks like they’re ready to get to work and have sent out  three links. One to a 7 part Ohio State University webinar, Bee; Short Course for Community Scientists. An updated link to their main website with potential community research projects, and a link to the University of Minnesota Bee Lab with information on pollination, pollinators, and apiary management. To all those that responded to the link I initially posted, check your inbox and get busy!

[ANTdrew]

Wow! I’m still waiting to hear back from them. Just checked my email, and nothing yet.

[ANTdrew]

I just joined the Bumble Bee Watch, and I'll start submitting my sightings.

[ConcordAntman]

I’ve been a laggard   I have a bunch of other things on my plate but I’ll try to contribute. I hope I'm not too late to do their bee oriented citizen-scientist webinar. 
 

I registered!

Edited by ConcordAntman, June 8 2021 - 4:48 PM.

[ConcordAntman]

I just finished my first webinar offered through the National Native Bee Monitoring RCN. It is moderated by the OSU Department of Entomology and runs May-November. If you haven't registered, here's a link. It's free! Registered members have access to archived recordings of all the lectures.

The Bee Short Course starts this month, a free webinar series! (constantcontact.com)

 

The webinar ran about an hour followed by a robust Q & A. There were viewers from all over the world, an hour well spent!

[ANTdrew]

Nice!

[ConcordAntman]

I found these in an attempt to address my poor bee identifying skills  This seems promising and is available for pre-order, to be published in July. 
Common Bees of Eastern North America (Princeton Field Guides, 151) July, 13, 2021 by Olivia Messinger Carril & Joseph S. Wilson

https://www.amazon.c...toreType=ebooks

and this

Bumblebees of North America: An Identification Guide (Princeton Field Guides, 87) March 30, 2014 by Paul H. Williams, Robin W. Thorp, et. al

https://www.amazon.c...toreType=ebooks

[ConcordAntman]

Today was my second webinar, the third of the series.

https://myemail.cons...aid=T5dx2IfWwpU

It covered research paradigms and topics in Bee studies. The lecturer was Olivia Messinger Carril PhD, and it was another interesting talk. She co-authored this

https://www.amazon.c...toreType=ebooks

When she’s not in the field, she’s a middle school science teacher in Santa Fe, NM.

[ConcordAntman]

For starters, my ID’ing skills stink! Since I’m on the east coast, in an attempt to bolster my meager skills, I cobbled together this pdf guide to bumblebees east of the Mississippi. PLEASE NOTE: This is not my original work! I assembled this from the Bumblebee Watch species guide which covers all of North America. 
https://www.bumblebe...species/profile

I compiled the species likely to appear in my neck of the woods. I post it for those of you with an ID’ing handicap like me. Happy Hunting

Attached Files

•  Eastern North American Bumble Bee Guide.pdf   18.92MB   171 downloads

[ConcordAntman]

Today was another webinar offered through Ohio State Department of Entomology and the National Native Bee Monitoring RCN. The lecturer was biologist and author, Heather Holm. The topic was, Insect Photography and Using iNaturalist to Observe and Document Wild Bees. The recorded lecture may be found here:

https://u.osu.edu/be...rse/recordings/

While she didn’t go into great detail on DSLR bee photography, she did cover some pointers on cellphone photography. She gave a detailed description of iNaturalist on both the iOS and PC platform, noting the functional differences (more features available in the PC platform) and the option to follow ongoing research projects through the app. It was another good session!

[ConcordAntman]

This month's Ohio State Department of Entomology and the National Native Bee Monitoring RCN webinar for the community scientist hosted Sam Droege, USGS Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab on the topic, Tips and Tricks to Finding Bees, Collecting Bees, and Creating a Bee Collection for Conservation and Science. It was an interesting look at techniques for capturing, preparing, and photographing bees. It was a combination show & tell and how I do it look at a research level entomology lab with pointers for the community scientist.