The Buzz: Labor Day
Happy Labor Day!
If you haven't gotten a late August sample, it would be a good time to do it!
I want to start with some thank yous. I've had several people write or call and tell me how much they are enjoying participating or how important they think the project is to bees. As I've said before, most science is done as a solo exercise. I find participating in this project the most exciting thing that I've done as a scientist and this in large part is because of your enthusiasm for the project. Thank you for the constant reminder of how lucky I am to be able to do this work.
We would love to have you collect data for as long as you have flowers. It will be interesting to see how long the sunflowers last. If you do have the opportunity, we'd love to have you send us one OLD flower from your plant. Send it to:
Gretchen LeBuhn
Department of Biology
San Francisco State University
1600 Holloway Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94132
I am writing to you from the Bee Course, a course that is designed to teach people how to identify bees to genus. The course is taught in one of the most beautiful areas of Arizona, the Chircauhua Mountains and the San Simon Valley. It is also one of the areas of the United States with the highest diversity of native bees. Bees love hot, dry habitats with lots of sandy soils and the Arizona deserts are perfect! This is the tenth anniversary of the Bee Course which is funded by the American Museum of Natural History in New York. I've participated as an instructor from the beginning of the course and in many ways, it is a wonderful reunion each year. Many of the top bee researchers in the United States have come as both instructors and students so, it is really exciting to be able to talk bees for ten days straight!
Bee Well!
Gretchen
Comments
Thyme for bees
I've been teaching myself about bees all summer, and I love the citizen science aspect of this site. I live in Seattle and have lots of bees, perhaps partly because I intentionally planted serially-blooming bee-attracting flowers. The bees do a great job of pollinating my large garden and fruit trees! I have both honey bees and bumbles. I haven't yet figured out where the honeybee hives are, whether they are kept or feral. I know that a feral hive in a a tree in a nearby park that I have been observing for years seems to have no more bees in it as of this summer. So sad!
So here's an idea: I have heard that organic beekeepers use thyme oil in their hives to kill the mites. How about if all of us bee lovers planted thyme in our gardens? First the bees love it (I have three kinds, all blooming at different times to spread out the attraction, and when they bloom they are always covered with bees), and maybe the oil would protect the bees from the mites. Could someone more expert than I comment on whether this seems like a useful idea?
Thanks for helping teach us to appreciate the bees, and letting us help with your project. I look forward to hearing the results.
Elizabeth Walker
Seattle
No sunflowers but plenty of bees
I am on the west side of Puget Sound, northeast side of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. The very few sunflower seeds that germinated earlier were eaten by slugs. The other sunflowers I tried were also eaten. So, no sunflowers this year. I do have a number of bees on the mint and lavender. The bees got a late start due to colder weather earlier in summer and the cooler weather over the last few days may affect them also (last night the temperature was in the mid-40s F). I have had no reportable results this year. Sorry.CathyB