Recording Sample Data
4 bees at once!
Photo by Ginny Stibolt
Collecting data is simple.
Twice per month, we will send you an email giving you the preferred sampling weekend. If you can't watch your sunflower on one of those days, try to pick a warm, sunny day within a week of that weekend.
Between 10 and 12 on Saturday or Sunday (or the day you pick), check the temperature and write it down. Then, grab a cup of your favorite warm beverage (bees pollinate coffee!!), a chair, a data sheet and pencil and a stop watch or clock. Set up your chair so that you can see your sunflower plant but are far enough away that you won't scare the bees. Focus on one sunflower plant. Count the number of open flowers on the plant. Only count younger flowers that still have pollen or nectar (you can touch the center of the flower to see if there is pollen). Once you are settled, start timing and write down how long it takes for the first five bees to arrive at your sunflower. After 30 minutes, you can stop. If you haven't seen 5 bees by then, we want to know! You probably have some of our most important data.
We would prefer to have a time for each bee. So, let's say you start your stopwatch right at 10:00. The first bee arrives at 10:01. You would write down 1 minute. The second bee arrives at 10:07. You would write down 7 minutes. The third bee and fourth bee arrive together at 10:09. You would write down 9 minutes for both bees. The fifth bee arrives at 10:10. You would write down 10 minutes. That's IT!! You then take your data to the computer, login and use our easy pull down system to let us know what you saw. I want to emphasize, that the MOST IMPORTANT RESULTS are the places where they didn't get five bees, especially those that don't see any bees. This is important because these are the places that bees might need help. One of our main goals is figuring out where bees are in trouble. If you are not seeing them, we need to know!!
So, if you started timing and your sunflower looked like the one at the top of the page, you'd have 4 bees that all had the same time of 0 seconds and minutes. You just have to wait for one more bee to arrive. Drink that coffee quickly!
Seeing very few or no bees is the MOST IMPORTANT DATA that you could get.
Now, if you want to get fancier, you can try to identify your bees. Given the prevalence of Colony collapse disorder in Honey bees and the suggestion that Bumble bees are struggling, we are especially interested in getting information on those groups. If you can tell those two, after looking at our guide, please let us know which of your bees were honey bees, carpenter bees, green metallic bees, or bumble bees. If they all look the same to you, just call them "Don't know" bees. We're very happy with those data!
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Comments
bees in my sun flowers
Today is 7-22-08 and I seen four bees in my garden hanging out on my sunflowers. I love to watch them
None of my seeds germinated
Hello,
I'm unable to record data because my seeds did not germinate. I do have shasta daisy and purple coneflower in my garden, which are attracting bees. Is it ok to record bees on them or should I wait until next year and hope for a better crop of sunflowers?
Thanks
my seeds not germinating
Hello,
I'm sad to say, but it looks as though none of the sunflower seeds I've received are going to grow. I set aside a few pots and a small bit of ground near the raspberries, but it's been over 3 weeks since I planted them and so far, nothing. Has anyone else had their seeds not germinate a single flower?
I do have a couple of sunflowers that have just bloomed near my bird feeding station; they are spillover the birds plant for me. I have no idea what variety they are, they are from black oil sunflower seeds, but I may try to collect bee data from them. I have seen some bees around the roses, the raspberries and the other wildflowers, not as many as last year but a few; should I also collect data on those plants?
data collecting
Hello,
Our sunflowers at our school site are finally ready to collect data.
Please add me to the list in giving me the preferred sampling weekends.
Thanks!
Corinne Majernik
Fairsite Elementary School
P.S. Since school is out for the summer, I might do it during the weekdays. We will see.
bees on privet bush
Hello, I haven't received your seeds but I have been seeing many many bees on our privet bush, which is covered with blooms.
It sounds so loud when I get near there. They are also on my other flowers, sage petunias etc. There is honey bees and bumble bees.
Thankfully. from Bradford County near Athens PA ,
No flowers!
Unfortunately, our sunflowers didn't grow. Not a one. But I have TONS of other flowers in my yard, that the bees love and this year we have LOTS of bees around. Not like last year, when you saw very few. Bumblebees are another thing. Those we have not seen very many of. Carpender bees, yes. They love to nest in my old horse barn, but regular bumblebees no. Can I do my reporting on a different flower or does it have to be one of your sunflowers?
Bee idenification
Momz flower power
Could we take a picture of the bees? I have a cell phone camera. Could I send a picture via email to you for IDing?
Please do take pictures of bees!
Bees are hard to identify to species without really getting a good look but, we can usually tell you something about the bee. It will help if you can also tell us where you took the picture. Take a look at www.bugguide.net to see one of the best places for getting pictures identified. Many of the photographers who contributed photos to our site post their pictures there. John Ascher, who does many of the identifications, is one of the best.