Master Melittologist Roundup - September 2024

Cover Photo by Kim Olson

There’s Melissodes everywhere, which means…

It’s fall! Are you celebrating another summer where you’ve expanded your personal bee understanding? And are you curious if your finds have also expanded the Atlas’ records for new bee locations? Quite likely! Lori Humphrey caught a Xenoglossodes and Susan Albright caught a Biastes, both new record locations in the state. And both bees so exotic I skip over them in the keys. This is just the tip of the iceberg for what our adventurous OBA team did this year. I can’t wait to hear the big story about new finds and milestones from Lincoln Best at our next March conference!

Thanks to everyone who submitted something to share in the Roundup - there’s a lot this month! Please enjoy all their stories and photos. And maybe keep this newsletter handy for all the links to various Bee ID resources that could be helpful for IDing the exotic bees in your boxes!

Carol Yamada,editor

In this issue

Field Notes: Collection on National Wildlife Refuges - Carol Yamada
Hells Canyon collection trip - RB Buschman
A search for Bombus Morrison - Lisa Robinson
Trip to Mt Hood - Mike Bogar

Miscellany: Bee School Class photos
Leaf Cutter bees take up residence - Toni Stephens
Close up of Bees - Dan Packman
Bee Riddle - Scott Sublette
Joe Dlugo’s Washington Native Bee Poster - Carol Yamada & Lisa Robinson

Team Notes: Dates for Microscope Days in Central Oregon

Outreach at the State Fair - Steve Gomes

Resources for Bee ID reprinted from 2023. by popular request

Reminder: Sept 20-22, final group collecting event. Join Andony Melathopoulos and Ellen Silva at Cottonwood Canyon on the John Day River south of The Dalles. Free camping at a group campsite under incredible starry skies, netting bitsy fairy bees off rabbitbrush and access to microscopes to pin and examine your bees. Family members are welcome. Sign up on Canvas for additional details.

Field Notes

Increasing Bee Data on national wildlife refuges.

Pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium) photo by Kim Olson

Oregon and Washington members have been collecting on several refuges, getting the lay of the land and making some baseline observations as a prelude to being able to capture data in earlier seasons next year. There’s lots of interest among each site’s biologists about what we’re doing and what we’re catching. In August we collected on the same weekend at Tualatin River NWR in Tualatin, and Ankeny NWR near Salem. Pennyroyal was a major source of pollen after the gummed and tarweed that both sites are filled with this time of year.

If you want to collect for this National Wildlife project, be sure to email August Jackson and get on the mailing list for next year for the first full season one NWR collecting.

A Succssful Bee Quest. - Lisa Robinson

Bombus morrisoni photo by Lisa Robinson

I think I have been on a quest for Bombus morrisoni for 7 years now.

Kate Crowell Walker found them in yellow flag iris in the ditch at the west end of Central Washington University, in 2021, and David Jennings went to get photos for washingtonbumblebees.org. I did not find any when I went to the same location, but on a camping trip to Cobblerock Campground, near Prineville, Oregon, I thought I glimpsed one so we drove back down again the next week to find just this one:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/89605619

The list of all the places I did not see any in southern Chelan county or northern Kittitas county is extensive. The PNW Bumble Bee Atlas focused on Ellensburg to look for them this year. (I don't know who claimed that piece of the grid, it's not me). On the 5th of August I went to Ellensburg and I thought I might have seen one, but did not get a photo to prove it, so I drove back last Sunday, August 11. I walked up one side of the ditch and back down the other, where I thought I might have seen a small worker. Encouraged in spite of the hot sun, I continued my walk focused on the flowers nearby until I finally spotted a nice big queen in the Securigera varia, Purple Crownvetch. She appeared to be nectaring, but interestingly, she collected pollen somewhere because her corbiculae were chock full of pale pollen. She was very cooperative except for the part where she was big enough the flowers bowed under her weight. 

The ditch runs by the science building on the west edge of campus and has many flowers including Solidago, yellow Lotus, Cirsium (introduced species), knapweed, bindweed, and white clover. They are mostly introduced plants, but if they keep what is a rare bee for Washington going, I'll take it. 

Another person in iNaturalist has found them in the Umptanum, but that is a trip for another day!

Lisa Robinson lives in Yakima, Washington, but has been contributing to the OBA for years and helped create the Washington Bee Atlas.

Hells Canyon is Bee Heaven - RB Buschman

This last July 4th (and 5th and 6th) Sarah Gardiner led her yearly Hells Canyon Melittologist training and bee hunting party.  Good bee weather prevailed all three days and the bees were out.  Those that arrived early on the 4th collected bees along the trails and meadows near the campground on the upper Imnaha River.  It's a beautiful place to camp with forest, river and entertaining wildlife.  Bats hang out under the bridge and hunt bugs at dusk.  Curious weasels come by to check out who's wading at their beach while small snakes catch fish in the river.  There were few mosquitos.  There is a large group campsite, which we were able to procure.  Otherwise, there is a place for RVs (no hookups) and about a dozen individual campsites.  

On Saturday we drove back down the Imnaha and up to the Hells Canyon Overlook.   It is about 5,000' elevation, exposed to the east towards the Snake River.  At the top, next to parking is a large rocky and scree strewn slope sporting many small flowers in bloom including bee favorites such as asters, clover, geranium, yarrow, penstemon and phacelia.  There were more protected areas along the gravel road into the canyon and forest to the west.  The late afternoon pinning party revealed Dioxys, Calliopsis, Stelis and Ashmeadiella in addition to the more common genera.

Sunday, we drove north to the Salt Creek Summit (6,000'). Ample parking at the top in the sno-park.  From there we found meadows along the gravel road to the east and pine forest and scree slopes along trails to the west.  Flowers and bee findings were similar to the overlook.  Bees will find every Phacelia in this type of terrain.  

Carole, Mike, Ellen, Ryan and Wendy celebrate a great day on the mountain.

Bee Adventure on Mt Hood - Mike Bogar

Mt Hood East Side (Surveyor Ridge)

On July 11, Bee Atlas members Mike Bogar, Wendy Thornton, Carole Miles, Ellen Silva, and Ryan Bear spent the day collecting east of Mt Hood, in the Mt Hood National Forest. We were joined by photographer and wildflower enthusiast Theresa Bear. Photos with this article are from Theresa.

Phots for this story by Theresa Bear

We collected bees at several spots along Surveyor Ridge Road (Forest Road 17), starting at roughly 2500 ft elevation and proceeding uphill to the end of FR17 at 3500 ft. Peak wildflower time along FR17 varies year-to-year, but is typically early-mid July. Our timing was very good, especially for flowers at the upper end of the road.

We started with small patches of flowers along the roadside, including mock orange & ocean spray. Then a long stretch with goldenrod, snowberry, and woolly sunflower and quite a few bees. For wildflowers, the highlight was a meadow behind the remains of an old corral, between FR17 & FR 1710. We found acres of woolly sunflower, penstemon, larkspur, cat’s ear, and more, but we didn’t net a lot of bees. They were too spread out over the acres of flowers!

Our last stop was near the top of Surveyor Ridge Road, at an open area that at first glance isn’t real impressive. But it was covered with small flowers … Horkelia fusca in bloom. We netted Calliopsis on the Horkelia and around nest holes in bare patches of ground. Calliopsis would generally be considered our most unusual genus of the day, but our timing was good and they were abundant at that time & place. In the next two weeks, a few Atlas members visited this site and collected Oreopasites, a nest parasite of Calliopsis. Again, an unusual genus, but not particularly unusual at that time & place.

Team news

Central Oregon Team: We have set our microscope days for October 10, no expert and October 22 with expert. November 12 is a make up day with expert if needed (check with us to see if we hold it). Save the Date for these valuable events! Check the calendar for times and locations.

Portland Team: There will be several sessions this fall and winter, the dates with our experts are being pinned down. Check the calendar before the end of the month.

OBA ANNOUNCEMENTS

Check the weekly emails from Jen Larsen to stay up to date on OBA announcements.

Lab Drop-Ins Replace Weekend Scope Days: Don’t forget that you can come to the lab to work on ID’ing your collection. We can take up to two people at a time in the Corvallis pollinator lab and you will be able to work directly with our collection. This will be of particular benefit to anyone setting off on the journey to the Journey level. To set up an appointment to spend the day in Corvallis, contact our taxonomist, Lincoln Best via email: lincoln.best@oregonstate.edu

Catch a Buzz

Catch a Buzz is the FIRST Tuesday of the month at 7pm. It can be harder to remember to join in when it’s light outside and bees are buzzing around distracting us. Consider setting a reminder to go to https://oregonstate.zoom.us/j/97230252365?pwd=TURyTXNMZ1M5SHl2TFQvajBxemtRdz09 | Password: bees

kudos and thanks are always in season

This summer there have been no nominations.

Nominate your personal hero for going above and beyond and after approval by the Advisory Committee, a handwritten note will be sent thanking your special person. All it takes to get the process started is to fill out the nomination form found by clicking HERE.

Calendar

There are plenty of collecting and field training events remaining in the calendar. Sign up for one today!

MISCELLANY Not to be missed

bee school classes of 2024

Intermediate Bee School Graduates of 2024. Congratulations! It's mind-bending to spend a week in the basement at OSU looking through scopes, yet this is our most popular class and fills up quickly.

Advance Bee Class 2024 Graduation Group.

Curiosity Leads to Better Bee Housing - Toni Stephens

An Osmia that Toni found near the nest.

Every year for the past at least 4 years I have noticed some species of what I believe to be an Osmia nesting under the window in my house. This year I thought I would place a nesting block near the window to see if they would use it. They did! Here is a photo of the beautiful color plugs they created using, I suspect, masticated leaf tissue. 

For those of you who are curious what the bee looks like I am including some cell phone photos. I have not looked at this bee yet so I am only giving a guess as to what it might be. 

This is a regular sized mason bee house, but put out after the mason bee season and filled with a variety of floral materials for leaf-cutting bees. 

Beautiful Bee Details

Can you ever get enough photos that show how beautiful bees are? Dan Packman from Bend sent in these close-up photos of a Bombus melanopygus, a wasp, a honey bee loaded up with pollen and a dragonfly.

Thanks Scott Sublette!

Washington Native Bee Society Poster

Poster created by Washington OBA member Joe Dlongo

Joe Dlongo spent years coming up with the photos for this poster. He shoots all of his bees live, since they are more beautiful and so many bee photos people see are of dead bees. , Most of these bees were captured and released in his Puget Sound garden. As the project expands he’s adding bees from around the state. It’s amazing he can get these shots. Here’s an excerpt from a post he wrote about it a few years ago:

Joe Dlongo photographing a sleepy bee.

“All of my bee images on flowers. are shot in the field in the heat of the day with bees in motion, however for my focus stacked portraits on white backgrounds it’s a little different. I’ve had some inquiries as to how it is sone so here’s the story. First off it certainly is hard to get a bee to sit still long enough to focus stack, but that is not the case in the brisk air of the early morning. I keep the bees overnight in a jar on the porch then come morning I place them on a white piece of paper to pose them. All the cooling is done simply with air temperature. I never use a refrigerator as that puts unsightly condensation bubbles in their eyes, an moreover it seems to harm some species. So after I get a round of shots where the antennae sit still (by hard the hardest part of all), I transfer the images to my iPad and stack in Affinity Photo. Then I transfer to Lightroom & Photoshop iPad for fine edits. Everything is done in the quiet golden hours, sipping tea while sitting on on my frigid front porch in a winter coat and listening to bird song. Once the daytime temps are reasonable, the bee is released back into the flowers where it was caught.

(Canon EOS 80D 100mm L Macro Rayon DCR-250-270EX II flash at 1/8 f13 1/100 ISO 250 Focus stacked 26 images in Affinity Photo iPad.”

But wait! What if you just shoot with your phone?

Joe: When I shoot on my iPhone I use the built-in cameras and sometimes will add Moment lens attachments. I shoot with the Moment app so I can control the focus, as the standard camera app will get confused when autofocusing so close. I use an iPhone 15 pro and mount the Moment 75mm macro to the built-in 3x lens and this has been pretty good, especially for video. 


The poster sales and interviews with Joe can be found at these sites

Poster—https://crownbees.com/products/native-bees-of-washington-state-poster?srsltid=AfmBOooEfYLfXklru0O7GSkEyzJvL80MMJZ-VxM0aNbB3YUHK5EyNi2U

Wolf Haven, https://wolfhaven.org/

Poster—https://shop.wolfhaven.org/products/artwork-poster-native-bees-17x11

On Crown Bees: Meet Joe Dlugo — A Must Watch for Backyard Beekeepers!

https://youtu.be/Uvi7sK8mNM0?si=ZryW6IKFCKWkZlmr


Thanks to Lisa Robinson for supplying research for this article!

Oregon State Fair - Bee Project Booth

The Oregon State Fair is the largest single outreach event in our state each year. The Oregon State Beekeepers Association display is one of the most popular at the fair, and over the past few years, the Oregon Bee Atlas has joined  them to introduce thousands of people to our native pollinators.  Having volunteers at the displays in the Farm and Garden Building, helps enrich the experience for the fair attendees. Please consider spending a few hours as an ambassador for the fair.  You are provided free admission and parking, and will have wonderful. time! This year’s fair runs until Sept 3. There was no sign up opportunities for OBA members this year, but there will be in 2025.. Steve Gomes

Where can I ID my bees?

〰️

Where can I ID my bees? 〰️

TOOLS & WEBSITES FOR BEE IDENTIFICATION

This is a reprint from last year. The Roundup staff interviewed bee buddies to see what tools they recommend checking out to ID bees. It’s videos, websites and books that hopefully offers something for your learning style. And maybe help with the learning curve as well!

OBA RESOURCES

Favorite - Scope Days! Microscope Days in Corvallis - Look on the calendar for dates starting in September for in-person and online ID days. The greatest deal on the planet! If you can make it down to Corvallis you can work in the lab using high powered microscopes with taxonomists to guide you in the ID process. Double-check before you go if the weather is bad. And this year has a new feature - online microscope events for those who can't commute to campus. Dates and times for these are also on the calendar.. If you can’t attend a microscope day, email Lincoln Best to set up a time at the lab.

Great too - Local Microscope Days Check in with the people in your area to see if something is set up, like Portland has done in the past at PCC Rock Creek Campus, or consider hosting a bee sorting party or ID event yourself. You'll be delighted at how popular those are. Just say - wanna see some cool bees?

Oregon Bee Atlas videos Remember to review the genera guide lecture modules, Plus check the videos in the Past Lectures Section at the bottom of the module page. There are recorded sessions done in 2020 by our instructors sorting our local bees into genera and subgenera.

Our textbooks The key to the Bee Genera of the Willamette Valley is in our apprentice manual, along with very valuable diagrams and terminology guides. This book, and your bee school books, are great allies for getting ID’s to genera level.

Linc’s lists of species keys by Family These 5 PDF’s will simplify the search for keys in the Taxonomic Resources and Literature located in the Canvas Resources.

Halictidae

Andrenid

Apid Bees

Megachilid Bees

Colletid Bees

And a special bonus for OBA members is access to the foremost bee taxonomist in Oregon, Lincoln Best! Post clear photos of your question bee, where & when you found it and on what flower, to our Facebook page or email them directly and Linc will reply as he has time. Especially if you have a super cool bee. But even if it’s just a wasp…if it’s a cool wasp.

USEFUL ONLINE SITES

Discover Life This website will walk you through getting your bee to genus and even species, although they favor species east of the Mississippi. It's a matrix key so you don't have to worry about getting stuck on an incomprehensible couplet. Check out this video on how to use [Discover Life]1

Sam Droege's Videos Each week Sam’s one hour microscope videos (95 sessions so far) focus on something specific, like identifying male andrena to sub species…episodes 1-7. It may cover bees we don’t have, but it’s useful to look thru the microscope with him as he describe the characters he’s talking about and to familiarize yourself with bee anatomy and key characters. http://bio2.elmira.edu/fieldbio/beemovies/index.htm

iNaturalist .org Look up bees where you were netting and see if you can find a match!

BugGuide.net John Asher works with site to ID bee photos. Sometimes it’s got just what you need!

Exotic Bee ID This is primarily for identifying introduced species, but does include natives, too. It’s best for anthidium, osmia, some megachile. Good diagrams and photos - it's also a matrix key.

Megachile of Canada is a nice photo key that can get you to some Megachile subgenera and species. Although it is for Canadian bees, the large clear photos and ID process can teach a lot about what to look for on a bee.

David Cappaert’s guide to Ceratina and Andrena in Oregon. David lives in Corvallis and has built keys to make bee ID easier to for laymen to accomplish.

If you have discovered tools that help you that we haven’t listed here, please let us know where to find them. Always looking for more!

Instructions for Donating to the oba

Would you like to help ensure the future of the OBA with a donation to the endowment fund? Start by clicking HERE and in the “I want to give to…” field, start typing “Jerry & Judith Paul Native Pollinator Endowment” and it should pop right up. Be sure to select this exact destination for your funds to get it in the right place. And thank you in advance!

Or- get a Pollinator Paradise license plate for every car in the family!

Leave us a comment or start a discussion below

Master Melittologist Roundup - June 2024

Happy Pollinator Week/Month

This is the month that everyone wants to talk about and learn about bees, not just us! So it’s our favorite month of the year! A few of the events we put on are in the Round Up, please send pictures of your events so we can show what’s going on all around the state.

In this issue

 

Field Notes


First Collection event in National Wildlife Refuges

Canvasing the National Wildlife Refuges in the Pacific Northwest is underway! The first refuges were Malheur and Hart Mountain in southern Oregon, followed by Ridgefield June 21 north of Vancouver, Washington. August Jackson is busily putting together collection events and protocol for collecting on the refuges.

Read his article about this project in the Friends of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge newsletter here:

Steens Mountain Trip May 2024

by RB Buschman

August Jackson and Ellen Silva led a dozen melittologists on a two-day camping/bee hunting trip to South Steens Mountain, based in the campground there.  We arrived on Friday evening or Saturday for hunting in and around the campground and up the road from there.  Lomatia, Camas and Deathcamas were the predominant bee flowers present.  We also had an adorable Dwarf Monkey Flower (Diplacus) in the gravel path to the outhouse and in a rock garden nearby.  Many Andrena were collected.   Melecta and B. morrisoni were documented, as well.    

Sunday, we drove south to Fields for gas (and milkshakes).  From there we formed a leap-frogging caravan, hopping from flower patch to flower patch as we worked our way east and north along the Alvord Desert.  There were not a lot of flowers at this time, but this roadside has uncountable quantities of sunflowers covered with bees in summer.  A few bees were captured off Buckwheat, Astragalus and Fiddleneck.  Osmia, Andrena, and Anthophora were common.  Later we came upon an area with alkali soil.  Hopeful of finding Nomia, we scoured the area.  However, with little potential food sources there on this date it wasn’t surprising we found none.   

Continuing our Steens Mountain circumnavigation, we looped into Malheur’s headquarters for the night where we were allowed to camp at the staff and volunteer facilities, which included RV and tent sites as well as toilets, showers and a kitchen with table and chairs (facilitating indoor bee pinning).  In the predawn we were greeted with an impressively loud and diverse birdsong chorus.  Sleeping through it was unlikely but since most of the group are birders or bird-curious anyway, it was mostly appreciated.  A few stops in the refuge where there were flowers on dry (rare) ground yielded the usual spring bee suspects and a single Dioxys on a small purple/white Phacelia linearis.  We collected off mustard and patches of willow (that were covered with scary hordes of midges – they look and sound a lot like mosquitos).  Even though we were not in prime migratory bird season there were many beautiful non-Willamette Valley birds to enjoy.   

Late afternoon brought us to Frenchglen for gas and snacks.  Then after a short section of pavement we were onto our long stretch of dusty gravel to Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge Headquarters where we were offered accommodation in the bunkhouses for staff and volunteers.  Beds with mattresses, flush toilets, showers and full kitchens were provided free of charge.  The next morning, we were accompanied by all 5 of the current staff members and their trucks for our bee safari.  They wanted to join us in the hunt, so. we offered up spare nets and they jumped in, all learning to catch and jar bees as well as gaining familiarity with iNaturalist.  It was fun for everyone, and the staff will be seeing the refuge in a different way (Hart is all about the 3 index animals: antelope, bighorn and sage grouse.  No invertebrates or flowers in the brochure).  Groundsel, Balsamroot and Currant produced the most bees.  However, the most amazing gathering of B. huntii queens on blooming (non-native) pea-family trees at the headquarters was a star attraction.   

RB Buschman lives in Portland. This is his 4th bee season with the OBA. He humbly didn’t mention that the single rare Dyoxis that was caught was in his net . Photos from various participants.

Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

photo and text by August Jackson

Anne Bulger with the Washington Bee Atlas took the initiative to organize a field/training event at the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge in Ridgefield, Washington on Friday, June 21st. Five Master Melittologists spent several hours walking the trails at the refuge and visiting a few different habitat types. It's getting later in the season for native flora in our low elevation valleys, so much of the sampling was off of invasive blackberries and thistles. However, we did locate patches of native roses and ocean spray that offered good collecting opportunities. Between all of us, at least 15 bee species were collected. Anne has organized additional events at Ridgefield on July 7th and July 20th. Register here!

OUTREACH EVENTS

Sunriver Wildflower & Pollinator Festival

The OBA table at Saturday’s 2024 Sunriver Wildflower & Pollinator Festival was popular with festival attendees.  The annual festival is held at the Sunriver Nature Center in collaboration with the High Desert Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Oregon.   OBA members staffing the table included Pete and Gretchen Pederson, Jerry Freilich, Gail Kimbell, Dave Schiappa, Lisa Cowan, Toni Stephen, Heike Williams and Debbie Spresser.  Pete and Jerry wowed visitors with magnified images of bees, and Toni and Gretchen led very popular “bee walks” on the Nature Center grounds.  Children especially liked the insect display boxes showing bees, bee-look-alikes and other non-bee pollinators.   Over 200 people visited the table with at least 50 people going on the bee walks.

Incredible Edibles

The Portland team was back at the Incredible Edibles plant sale, a fundraiser for the Multnomah County Master Gardeners. There was a constant flow of visitors thru most of the day. It was fun for us to have 3 newbies come help out and practice their trail talk skills in the booth! (Photos by Susan Albright or Carol Yamada.)

PCC Educational Garden Open Garden Event

Formerly know as Meet The Masons, the PCC ED Garden now has an Open Garden event in June that gives folks a chance to learn about bees, moths, butterflies, plants, worms and even miniature horses! This year we had a fun booth where Mark Gorman did the Sleepy Bee exhibit, having sleepy drones from his hives that he would bring out and let walk around on people’s hands. Wildly popular! Marek Stanton has an illustrated version of the Bee Wasp Fly? material and was able to pinpoint in large scale the differences to visitors. And the popular Catch And Release was back with Martha Richards on Small Net. If you would like to participate in future years, contact Susan Albright!

Mark Gorman, Marek Stanton & Kalika Stanton

OBA ANNOUNCEMENTS

Check the weekly emails from Jen Larsen to stay up to date on OBA announcements.

Lab Drop-Ins Replace Weekend Scope Days: Don’t forget that you can come to the lab to work on ID’ing your collection. We can take up to two people at a time in the Corvallis pollinator lab and you will be able to work directly with our collection. This will be of particular benefit to anyone setting off on the journey to the Journey level. To set up an appointment to spend the day in Corvallis, contact our taxonomist, Lincoln Best via email: lincoln.best@oregonstate.edu

Out-of-state Melittologists Welcome to Collect in Washington - IF you abide by these guidelines

If you are an Oregonian like me, your mouth kinda waters when you hear descriptions of the bee-collecting forays that the Washington Bee Atlas folks go on. Did you know that you can go along despite Washington State’s otherwise strict restrictions on collecting? There are several ways to collect Washington bees:

    • As an OBA member, you can sign up for WA field collecting events through the Canvas RSVP link. For WaBA events, the link takes you to the Washington Bee Atlas website to finish your registration. As a participant in an official WaBA event, you are good to collect.

    • If you have a Washington buddy who is a registered member of the WaBA, you can go on a private collecting trip with them – but stick together, you are only covered if you are traveling with a WaBA member who is on the Washington permit! And only collect where you have permission to collect.

    • You can join the Washington Bee Atlas and get added to the permit. In that case, you can head out and collect on your own, again on lands where WaBA has permission to collect. 

In all cases, use the Washington Bee Atlas project on iNaturalist for your records. Keep your WA bees separate so you can turn them to the WBA at the end of the season.

BEE SCHOOL 2024

Learn how to identify your bees, how to use multiple reference resources and online materials to get your bees from ‘it’s a bee….I think.’ to the correct genera (intermediate level) or species (advanced level). A great week where you will definitely up your microscope skills and expand your taxonomic vocabulary.

Plus make friends that are as bee crazy as you are! Everyone needs at least 3 bee buddies, besides Linc, that you can text photos to in the middle of the night for identification help.

Bee School at OSU

August 12th - 16th, 2024: Intermediate course; August 19th - 23rd, 2024: Advanced course
The intermediate course is almost full – don’t delay registering!
More info here and registration link here

Catch a Buzz

Catch a Buzz is the FIRST Tuesday of the month at 7pm. It can be harder to remember to join in when it’s light outside and bees are buzzing around distracting us. Consider setting a reminder to go to https://oregonstate.zoom.us/j/97230252365?pwd=TURyTXNMZ1M5SHl2TFQvajBxemtRdz09 | Password: bees

Ellen climbing hills outside of Burns, before there was a rattlesnake sighting.

Thank You Ellen!

If you’ve been around a, you’ll know that Ellen has won every possible award that the Bee Atlas has except one highly coveted award - Most Bees Award. There’s only one way to get that award of course: catch the most bees. So after several years of informative and amusing editorial work on the Round Up, Ms. Silva has resigned as Editor and gone into the field. Every field she can find! Thank you Ellen for all you’ve done for Atlas Communication. Best of Luck!

If you have any feedback or submission for Field Notes or if you want to post notes for your regional team or be a roving reporter, contact Carol Yamada (carolyamada@rocketmail.com).

kudos and thanks are always in season

Kudos to Susan Albright for sharing her 'To Bee or not to Bee' activity for us to use at the Abbey Road Farm Bee Friendly Wine event. It's a wonderful activity w/hand out that Susan created, and everyone liked. So appreciated as the weather prevented an outdoor activity. submitted by Janice Buschman

And Holly Stephens wrote in her kudos - Heather Poehler is a great collection event guide. She made time for everybody's skill levels, has a good working knowledge of anatomy and species names, and was a great resource for everybody on the trip to Kings Estate Winery.

Nominate your personal hero for going above and beyond and after approval by the Advisory Committee, a handwritten note will be sent thanking your special person. All it takes to get the process started is to fill out the nomination form found by clicking HERE.

Team news

Team DISCORD reprint from last month

Michele Sims is trying to get a Discord group going to discuss native bees. Please note that this isn’t an official OBA effort - this is Michele Sim’s trying to help her bee nerd friends, aka you and me.

From Michele:

There is now a Native Bee Discord server for anyone who wants to join. This is a place to post questions, photos, resources that you’ve discovered, cute pet photos and whatever else the kids do on the interwebs these days. There is also a voice chat, so we can nerd out in real time.

Discord is a communication platform used by millions of people around the world. It started out as a social gamer platform, but has come a long way from Ye Misty Times of Olde (2015) and is no longer just a place to yuk it up with your friends whilst killing zombie hordes.  By joining a server, you have access all of the tools without ads, spam or other annoying features of social media. Basic access is free.

OBA members are scattered across the state, so it can be hard to collaborate. I’m hoping that creating this server will help. Have a bee anatomy question? Post a photo and ask the group. Need some help with a key? Maybe someone can hop on voice chat and work through it with you. Find a useful paper that unerringly IDs your Melanosmia to species? Post that link. (Please)

How is this different from Zoom, which we all know and love? Zoom is optimized for meetings. Discord is optimized for communication. Yes, you have to download the app and learn how to use it, but OBA is all about new skills, right? It works on iOS, macOS, Windows, Android, Linux, and in browser. There is an extensive, well-written help section on their website. Or just ask some teenaged person (who is wasting their youth playing video games) to help you set it up.

·       What you need to do: Download Discord and set up an account

·       Email Michele Sims (sims.mw@gmail.com) and request an invite. You can also send a friend request or direct message through the app.

·       You will get an invite code from Batlady (That’s me, Michele!)

·       Read the instructions in the invite and join us

Calendar

There are plenty of collecting and field training events remaining in the calendar. Sign up for one today!

What bloomed.

Scott Sublette shows his net after netting in a weedy patch

Foxtail is usually featured on websites that sell RoundUp and other herbicides. It’s one of the grasses invading our natural areas. Be sure to clean your boots and pants when entering a natural site!

MISCELLANY Not to be missed

Accommodations Wanted, Willing to be Flexible!

by David Kollen

The Black-tailed bumble bee, Bombus melanopygus, is known for a certain amount of flexibility when choosing nest sites. This bee nests both underground and above ground. Above ground it is known to use bird houses and insulation in buildings if there is an available entrance.1,

In addition to nest site flexibility, it is one of the earliest species to begin nesting and have males out on the landscape, where they patrol circuits looking for females.1

A friend of mine up the coast in Port Orford sent these pictures, including one showing a night time infrared shot. You can clearly see where the nest structure and bees are located.

1. Bumble Bees of North America, Williams, Thorp, Richardson & Colla

David Kollen OBA member in Salem, often does outreach by writing articles for the magazine like the Mahonia, a publication of The Federated Garden Clubs of Oregon. This article appeared this spring to answer that common question - why are honeybees in my birdhouse?

Instructions for Donating to the oba

Would you like to help ensure the future of the OBA with a donation to the endowment fund? Start by clicking HERE and in the “I want to give to…” field, start typing “Jerry & Judith Paul Native Pollinator Endowment” and it should pop right up. Be sure to select this exact destination for your funds to get it in the right place. And thank you in advance!

Leave us a comment or start a discussion below

March 2024

Welcome New Melittologists!

The Roundup Newsletter is one of the various ways that we communicate with each other. It comes out sort-of, kind-of quarterly. We rely on member submission to make it fun, so we hope that you’ll find interesting things here and then be inspired to contribute info about your own outreach events, bee adventures and research. Or email us with story ideas you’d like to see!

There’s a lot of ways to be connected in the Atlas group. Catch A Buzz is always informative and at the end there’s time to ask any sort of questions you may have (1st Tuesday of the month, 7PM) We have a Facebook page and an Instagram account, so if you’re social you can connect there. Of course, Jen sends out great weekly updates. The Canvas pages are always changing with outreach opportunities and collection events. And in the Portal, be sure to ‘Opt In’ to share your contact info in your settings so people who live nearby can find you and maybe arrange to go out netting together. Our membership is also a helpful source of insider knowledge. if you’re collecting in a new location, someone nearby may be able to give tips on where to find the best flowers and what’s blooming.

If you have any feedback or submission for Field Notes or if you want to post notes for your regional team or be a roving reporter, contact Ellen Silva (e.silva@comcast.net). or Carol Yamada (carolyamada@rocketmail.com) Photo credits are at end of newsletter.

In this issue

Field Notes

Some photos from our Annual Conference.

Bee Camp, AKA Siskiyou Field Institute coming in June - watch for the announcement on Canvas

The OBA Bee School at the Siskiyou Field Institute takes place June 3-7 this year, a couple of weeks later than last year, so likely a whole lot less snow and a whole lot more bloom. Will that mean a whole lot more bees? Better come along and find out. Here’s what to expect.

  • Crawl out of bed and get your beverage of choice going, then sit out on the picnic table and watch the wild turkeys parade across the field.

  • Chat up the gang from Fish and Wildlife, then pretend you know more than you do when talking to grad students from OSU and OU and probably a couple of other universities, too.

  • Ogle the flowers in Linc’s morning presentation and jot down your checklist of all the bees you ARE going to net.

  • Spend the late morning and afternoon in the field, delighting in pitcher plants or rushing rivers or tiny Osmia on even tinier popcorn flowers.

  • Come back to the institute for more information and to pin your bees in a large and comfortable classroom with scopes provided.

  • Maybe join in the revelry at the final night campfire or maybe fall asleep early dreaming about bees.

I’m pretty sure there’s a turkey out there…somewhere.

There are several sleeping options. For those who need it, a few rooms are available in the lodge. For the others, you can choose to share a large yurt or pitch your own tent anywhere on the grounds that suits you. Probably a good idea to avoid overhanging limbs if it’s windy at all.

Cooking is nothing like car-camping cooking - you have full access to a kitchen with pots and pans and REFRIGERATORS! A small grocery is a few miles up the road, but while you are out looking for bees you can stop at nearby towns, too.

Collecting is guided, in as much as we all head for roughly the same spots and maybe even plan to rotate among them if parking is tight. Car-pooling is de rigueur when we head out to the fields, so if you manage to get a ride to the institute but don’t have a vehicle on site, no worries. Someone will welcome you.

Interested in joining the fun this year? Watch for the flyer to be posted on Canvas and RSVP! Note that this event does have an associated fee which will be announced when the event flyer goes live.

OBA ANNOUNCEMENTS

Check the weekly emails from Jen Larsen to stay up to date on OBA announcements.

Lab Drop-Ins Replace Weekend Scope Days: Don’t forget that you can come to the lab to work on ID’ing your collection. We can take up to two people at a time in the Corvallis pollinator lab and you will be able to work directly with our collection. This will be of particular benefit to anyone setting off on the journey to the Journey level. To set up an appointment to spend the day in Corvallis, contact our taxonomist, Lincoln Best via email: lincoln.best@oregonstate.edu

Out-of-state Melittologists Welcome to Collect in Washington - IF you abide by these guidelines

If you are an Oregonian like me, your mouth kinda waters when you hear descriptions of the bee-collecting forays that the Washington Bee Atlas folks go on. Did you know that you can go along despite Washington State’s otherwise strict restrictions on collecting? There are several ways to collect Washington bees:

    • As an OBA member, you can sign up for WA field collecting events through the Canvas RSVP link. For WaBA events, the link takes you to the Washington Bee Atlas website to finish your registration. As a participant in an official WaBA event, you are good to collect.

    • If you have a Washington buddy who is a registered member of the WaBA, you can go on a private collecting trip with them – but stick together, you are only covered if you are traveling with a WaBA member who is on the Washington permit! And only collect where you have permission to collect.

    • You can join the Washington Bee Atlas and get added to the permit. In that case, you can head out and collect on your own, again on lands where WaBA has permission to collect. 

In all cases, use the Washington Bee Atlas project on iNaturalist for your records. Keep your WA bees separate so you can turn them to the WBA at the end of the season.

It’s Outreach Season

Internet meme - but would love to see this presentation!

WANTED: People in Oregon, Washington and BC that care about native bees, have access to fine handouts about bees, flowers, forests and gardens, and a willingness to share their advanced bee knowledge with the public. Having an OBA T-shirt is a bonus. If this sounds like you, apply below.

OBA Outreach Resources

There’s a wide variety of opportunities there, but of course you can make your own contacts and events in your neighborhood. Farmer’s markets, local Bee City and Pollinator celebrations, and street fairs are always looking out for bee people,

Check out the peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed Powerpoint presentations created by other members that you can use whole or copy slides from, plus other useful tools.

Did someone ask about wineries? Special OBA Vineyard events on Canvas are at several wineries. Check to see if you can attend one or more of those. Andony is there, you get to catch bees with him, and there may even be some refreshments. Everything fun!

Catch a Buzz

Catch a Buzz is the FIRST Tuesday of the month at 7pm. The April topic hasn’t been announced yet, so be sure to tune in and be among the first to find out what it is! To join, go to https://oregonstate.zoom.us/j/97230252365?pwd=TURyTXNMZ1M5SHl2TFQvajBxemtRdz09 | Password: bees

kudos and thanks are always in season

Joe Engler and Mark Gorman received kudos from fellow members this month for sharing their bee ID expertise at the PCC-Rock Creek scope days offered by the Portland area team. They are both great coaches and so generous with their skills.

Mark also received a separate note of thanks for making a visit to Scott Sublette’s cousin, who was concerned about a swarm of bees. Mark lives closer to the cousin than Scott and was able to reassure them that the cluster of male Osmia was nothing to worry about.

And talking about swarms – a whole swarm of kudos have flown in to thank Jen Larsen for going above and beyond in so many areas: question-answering, supply-gathering, website re-configuring (especially this!), quick-question-responding, nitty-gritty-working, communication-improving, kindness-projecting, open-minded idea-juggling, and overall friendliness. As one of the many nominators said, “What would we do without her?”

Nominate your personal hero for going above and beyond and after approval by the Advisory Committee, a handwritten note will be sent thanking your special person. All it takes to get the process started is to fill out the nomination form found by clicking HERE.

Team news

Central Oregon

The Oregon Bee Atlas team in central Oregon was honored to spend some time with Andony before his talk at the Tower Theater in Bend on January 24. The group did a "speed dating" style of tabling speaking to a ton of people in the hour before Andony's talk. Many people were excited to learn that the pollinator license plate is available and we gave out bee plate cards to others who did not know about it. Of course, lots of people were amazed at the many different native bees there are. Jerry set up his microscope, on loan from the High Desert Museum, to show folks how to tell bees from flies from wasps. That is always a crowd pleaser. 

In photo with Andony are Jerry, to his right, and Debbie, Michele, Toni and Heike to his left.

OBA must be doing a great job of educating the public because it seems we are encountering more folks who are aware of native bees than in 2019 when we first started talking to people about the native bees in Oregon. (Thanks to Toni Stephan for submitting this news item.)

Team DISCORD

Michele Sims is trying to get a Discord group going to discuss native bees. Please note that this isn’t an official OBA effort - this is Michele Sim’s trying to help her bee nerd friends, aka you and me.

From Michele:

There is now a Native Bee Discord server for anyone who wants to join. This is a place to post questions, photos, resources that you’ve discovered, cute pet photos and whatever else the kids do on the interwebs these days. There is also a voice chat, so we can nerd out in real time.

Discord is a communication platform used by millions of people around the world. It started out as a social gamer platform, but has come a long way from Ye Misty Times of Olde (2015) and is no longer just a place to yuk it up with your friends whilst killing zombie hordes.  By joining a server, you have access all of the tools without ads, spam or other annoying features of social media. Basic access is free.

OBA members are scattered across the state, so it can be hard to collaborate. I’m hoping that creating this server will help. Have a bee anatomy question? Post a photo and ask the group. Need some help with a key? Maybe someone can hop on voice chat and work through it with you. Find a useful paper that unerringly IDs your Melanosmia to species? Post that link. (Please)

How is this different from Zoom, which we all know and love? Zoom is optimized for meetings. Discord is optimized for communication. Yes, you have to download the app and learn how to use it, but OBA is all about new skills, right? It works on iOS, macOS, Windows, Android, Linux, and in browser. There is an extensive, well-written help section on their website. Or just ask some teenaged person (who is wasting their youth playing video games) to help you set it up.

·       What you need to do: Download Discord and set up an account

·       Email Michele Sims (sims.mw@gmail.com) and request an invite. You can also send a friend request or direct message through the app.

·       You will get an invite code from Batlady (That’s me, Michele!)

·       Read the instructions in the invite and join us


Please send us news to share from your neck of the woods to publish in the Roundup. Send it to Ellen Silva (e.silva@comcast.net) or Carol (carolyamada@rocketmail.com).

Calendar

Boy, howdy, the calendar is getting full already! Be sure and browse through the coming months to discover your bee adventures for the year. Field school, a 2-day Steens/Alvord camping/collecting trip, lots of one day collection events… and don’t forget we kick the year off on March 3rd with our annual conference.

What’s blooming

Claytonia has flower stems that come out from the a center section in the leaf.

Claytonia, known as miner’s lettuce or Candy Flower attracts a famous Oregon specialist bee - the Grumpy Bee! Common across the state. photos by Noelle Landauer

MISCELLANY Not to be missed

If it doesn’t sting, does it taste as sweet? We’re not sure, but you can learn a lot of other stuff about honey from stingless bees and the people who are trying to help them in this article from the New York Times (subscription may be needed, apologies for that). Thanks to Pam Hayes for sending this along!

Instructions for Donating to the oba

Would you like to help ensure the future of the OBA with a donation to the endowment fund? Start by clicking HERE and in the “I want to give to…” field, start typing “Jerry & Judith Paul Native Pollinator Endowment” and it should pop right up. Be sure to select this exact destination for your funds to get it in the right place. And thank you in advance!

Leave us a comment or start a discussion below

July 2023

you must be present to win

Whether it’s educating a family about the importance of native bees or standing in an alpine meadow watching for the next Dufourea calochorti to land, the OBA gives us so many chances to win at the game of summer. Read on to see the many ways your fellow members have been striking the jackpot.

And, please, read and consider the eloquent request from the Oregon Flora for support in completing their journey to record the flora of Oregon. The OBA owes them a debt for the information they have shared as well as for the model they provided for the creation of our organization.

If you have any feedback or submission for Field Notes or if you want to post notes for your regional team contact Ellen Silva (e.silva@comcast.net). Photo credits are at end of newsletter.

In this issue

Jerry Leroy Paul (April 5, 1945 – July 20, 2023)

Jerry Leroy Paul
APRIL 5, 1945 – JULY 20, 2023
Jerry Leroy Paul, age 78, of Corvallis, Oregon passed away on Thursday, July 20, 2023.

I am very sorry to be sharing with you that one of the finest in our ranks passed last Thursday. For those of you who had the good fortune to know Jerry, you no doubt recognized he was the most genuine, dedicated, hard-working, caring, and unassuming person. I understand how difficult a loss this is for you.

But this tribute is primarily directed to those of you who didn’t know Jerry. I am here to point out that although didn’t know him, you encounter his imprint across every inch of the Master Melittologist program. If you went out collecting today and were glad how easy it was to capture your plant record, you can thank Jerry. Jerry made this program user-friendly. As he frequently pointed his career was dedicated to breaking systems to reveal their flaws. And he was generous in bringing this skill set to us. You might not see Jerry’s chisel marks today because he subsequently went back and sanded those marks away (Jerry never did anything half-way). We all benefit from Jerry’s tireless work to spot problems and produce simple and elegant fixes.

You might be more familiar with Jerry’s role on our Advisory Committee, a position he served since the start of the program. He was a key voice on this Committee advocating for scientific integrity, but also making sure everyone who wanted to contribute had a path to contribute. Personally, I considered him a mentor and I would text him whenever I needed advice. He would pick up the phone and give help me work through sticky aspects of the program. Also, as many of you know, Jerry and his wife Judith stepped forward in the early days of our program and started a Pollinator Health Endowment at the Oregon State University to ensure the bee atlas would continue in Oregon for years to come. Jerry was dedicated to building a solid foundation for melittology in Oregon to move forward.

But, Jerry’s commitment to service went WAY beyond melittology. When I last saw Jerry back in the spring, he was busy organizing the installation of windows at the Willamette Community and Grange Hall. He also was a very active board member of the Benton Soil and Water Conservation District. Jerry directly put thousands of native plants and mason bees into the hands of people across Benton County. I know Jerry’s volunteerism goes a lot deeper these two examples, but Jerry was humble, modest, and hardworking and NEVER wanted to take credit for anything. He preferred to make sure the work got done, and that the work was done right.

We know Master Melittologists will want an opportunity to gather and celebrate Jerry’s life and we are the early stages of planning something. We know this and we will keep you posted. But as an immediate opportunity to celebrate Jerry if you are in the Corvallis area, consider coming to the Corvallis Knights game next Saturday (August 5). Jerry was a season ticket holder (note his Knights ball cap in the picture above) and loved the Knights as a local initiative. But more to come.
https://happsnow.com/team/corvallis-knights

I know this news will come as a shock. Jerry seemed to overflow with a love of life that seemed to have no end. This is what makes Jerry’s passing so hard to process - he was just so ALIVE! We will all miss this remarkable man and his indomitable spirit. Rest in peace Jerry.

-Andony Melathopoulos, Pollinator Heath Extension Specialist (July 27, 2023)

Field Notes

Mt hood meadows collection day

Michael and Dan O’Loughlin always organize and teach a great event, and from these smiles you can tell they held to form. Thanks, O’Loughlin’s!

Penstemon Prairie — Triepeolooza

Thanks to Carol Yamada for submitting this reflectiion on her experiences collecting at Metro Parks properties (Portland metro area).

Living in the Metro area, I’ve collected several times at all of the properties for which we have permit access. But there’s a new property out near Forest Grove, Penstemon Prairie, and it’s absolutely my favorite. It’s a 260 acre prairie that has been restored from an old farm. It was originally called Lovejoy, but after they found rare penstemon growing there, it was renamed.   Since then Metro has been propagating more of these tiny penstemon at their Tualatin location and re-seeding it. Penstemon hesperius is considered endangered in Washington State. Not finding any means we’ll have to go back next spring! Beyond that though, there are several more hit-list favorites blooming out there.

There’s also some rare bird nesting going on, and so when you ask Metro if it’s OK to collect there, they’ll give you all the details you need to know about avoiding the birds. The night before we went collecting, I got an email at 11PM about where some rare bittern were spotted that day, so we could avoid them. 

I went there with two different groups, a week apart. Different flowers were in bloom and I caught different bees each time. Right now there are lots of male Melissodes, waiting for their lady friends to arrive. Our group caught maybe 30 Triepeolus, also waiting for the ladies to arrive!

Anyone can contact the Metro contacts listed in the permit, available on Canvas, and request to go out there. Check out the permit sheet to see who to connect with and details on your visit. There’s still more blooming to happen in July!  

A Pipeline of Bees

The OBA is giving a bit of help to the Hood River Watershed as they improve their irrigation water delivery and pollinator habitat, too. New pipelines replacing ditches have been planted in areas with native plants and several OBA members got out last month to see who has made them home. It’s a work in progress, but we did find some nice flowers and a great view.

A heck of a trip…to HelL Heck

From Sarah Gardner, who led an intrepid group to the rescheduled Hell’s Canyon trip: The trip to the Hells Canyon Rec area was such a hoot, I enjoyed myself immensely. We hit bloom at a great stage, and for the most part the weather cooperated. I am actually quite excited to go back next year, and have some day trip locations in mind that we have not yet hit. 

outstanding outreach events!

Congratulations are Due

OBA’s own Carol Yamada organized a myriad of pollinator educational activities for adults and kids alike as part of the shindig held by Luscher Farm to celebrate National Pollinator week. Everyone from bats to butterflies and of course, bees showed up, along with OBA information and volunteers. Nice job, Carol!

Yet More Congratulations are Due

NW Naturals put on a great event for pollinator week, too, shepherded by our own Michael O’Loughlin. With a keynote speaker like Doug Tallamy, it was bound to be a success. The OBA booth being situated right next to the Washington Bee Atlas booth was the cherry on the top.

Sunriver Nature Center Wildflower Festival plus OBA equals lots of education!

Booth volunteers Toni Stephan, Phil Paterno, Jerry Freilich, and Heike Williams shared info with over 200 visitors and Toni led two pollinator walk-and-talks. Jerry borrowed a neat set-up from the Bend High Desert Museum: a digital microscope and camera which he used to show interesting details of bees, wasps and flies projected to a monitor to visitors. Says Heike, “The little girl was so interested. I had to explain every circle on the Four Bee-safe Gardener Tips card to her.”

OBA announcements

Catch a Buzz

Catch a Buzz is the FIRST Tuesday of the month at 7pm. To join, go to https://oregonstate.zoom.us/j/97230252365?pwd=TURyTXNMZ1M5SHl2TFQvajBxemtRdz09 | Password: bees

HOLD THE DATE: OREGON STATE FAIR IS AUGUST 25 TO SEPTEMBER 4

The OBA will have a strong presence at the fair and you are needed to help share our information. Watch for details on signing up to help, but mark your calendars NOW!

location, location, location.

No, we aren’t selling or buyinig a house here. We’re talking about how to edit your location in iNaturalist before you update your bee count. (Remember, changing your bee count from 0 to the actual number of insects in that sample is the very last thnig you do and is what triggers your location labels being printed.)

iNaturalist automatically fills in the location based on your GPS coordinates, but it uses a format that doesn’t fit bee labels very well. All you have to do is select the location field when you are editing an observation and type in a better location format. We are shooting for something with either of these formats:

City, ST, USA or Landmark, ST, USA

For example:

“Elm St, Forest Grove, OR, US” should be edited to “Forest Grove, OR, USA”

OR

“Clackamas County, US-OR, US” could be edited to “Salmon Mountain, OR, USA”

Don’t include any county — the OBA labels automatically capture that. Instead, use either the nearest town/city or a natural landmark like a mountain or canyon.

While we are discussing iNaturalist…

Remember to only take an identification to the taxon level that your are highly confident of, by which we mean if you know your plant is in the rose family but aren’t sure if it’s a Nootka or a baldhip, choose Genus Rosa, NOT one of the species on a hunch.

Likewise, be alert that there may be two very similar species in one area. As an example, if you see two different cinquefoils, and you aren’t sure what the species are, please don’t put all the bees you collect off either one in a single kill jar labeled “cinquefoil”. If in doubt, make two jars and label them cinquefoil 1 and cinquefoil 2, and 2 iNat observations, both with the taxa selection of “Cinquefoils, Genus Potentilla”.

Finally, did you know there are two common dandelion species in Oregon that look nearly identical? I just learned that, so from now on I’m going to just ID my dandelions to Genus Taraxacum instead of choosing Common Dandelion, Taraxacum officinale as I had been doing. this will make Linc and the staff’s job of cleaning up our data much easier and will also make our data more accurate!

kudos and thanks are always in season

Multiple “seasoned Atlas students” were thanked for helping train new field attendees at last month’s Camp Polk Meadow Preserve Field Training. That’s what we do here in the Atlas!

Do you know someone else who deserves a big thank you for the work they do on behalf of OBA and its volunteers or just deserves a shout-out for their achievements, big or small? Nominate your personal hero by filling out the nomination form, found by clicking HERE. After committee approval, they will get a handwritten note and a call out in the Roundup.

Calendar

Did you know you can link your Google calendar to the OBA calendar and see upcoming events almost on your personal calendar?! All you have to do is click that little white plus sign at the bottom right of the calendar below. Never miss an OBA event again because you couldn’t be bothered to log in to Canvas.

Davidson's Penstemon (Penstemon davidsonii) — Susan Albright

What’s blooming

Combing through iNaturalist over the last week, we note our volunteers have come across some great plants on the hit list or have found bees in areas of special interest. You should be able to revisit these sites. Remember to check the permit requirements for these sites in Canvas.

Gumplants (Genus Grindelia) — Carol Yamada — Sitka Sedge, OR (July 15)

Davidson's Penstemon (Penstemon davidsonii) — Susan Albright — Dee Wright Observatory, OR (July 8)

Scarlet Globemallow (Sphaeralcea coccinea) — Scott Sublette — Harney County, OR (July 3)

Please remember to include images of the flower, the leaves, and the entire plant with all your submissions. Only include images of the plants you collect on, not bees, in the Oregon Bee Atlas (Plant Images/Sample ID) project.

The Oregon Flora Needs Help!

A message from Linda K. Hardison, Ph.D. / Director Oregon Flora

Imagine:  trying to restore a degraded habitat without knowing what was there in the first place. Wanting to help pollinators without awareness of what—or where—their nectar sources can be found. Attempting to mitigate the climate emergency without understanding what plant species are adapted to hotter, drier places. Losing a cornucopia of not-yet-discovered foods, fibers, and medicines to invasive species, development, and diminished genetic diversity.

You can’t manage, protect, or appreciate what you don’t know.

OregonFlora is the only resource that brings you the knowledge—curated, up-to-date, and freely available—about the vascular plants of the state that grow in the wild. To do this, we are producing a comprehensive resource about the 4,700+ unique vascular plant species of Oregon in both printed and digital format. The three-volume Flora of Oregon and our website https://oregonflora.org documents the presence of every species in the state, and gives detailed descriptions, identification tools, maps showing where they’re found, and photos of each one.

Our website provides interactive tools that help people of all skills and backgrounds learn about plants and the ways plant diversity impacts their interests. Gardeners, restorationists, and pollinator pals will find the Grow Natives tool full of valuable information to create and help your native plantings thrive. Our plant fact sheets can be searched by common or scientific name; one exists for every plant documented in the state! Fact sheets are a digital version of our Flora of Oregon books and are filled with maps, color photos, descriptions, and other resources.

Despite the incredible usefulness of OregonFlora resources to agencies, universities, land managers, and nature-lovers everywhere,  we need your help. Our program is 100% funded by donations and grants, and right now our financial reserves are almost exhausted. Without new funds, our progress on the final volume of Flora of Oregon will come to a halt, and our website will not be updated or maintained.

Will you consider making a generous contribution to ensure we can finish Volume 3 of the Flora of Oregon in a timely manner and keep the oregonflora.org website available for you?

We are on the home stretch of creating a modern botanical legacy for Oregon, and your gift of any amount will allow us to continue providing you with comprehensive and easy-to-use botanical information. Join our diverse team of gardeners, researchers, conservationists, students—pollinator and plant lovers of all kinds—that are helping to build an enduring legacy for the people of Oregon and its diverse and awe-inspiring flora. Thank you--your donation will make a difference!

 

For more information, visit our website, or contact Linda directly at hardisol@oregonstate.edu

miscellany (not to be missed)

Catch A Buzz: july 4,2023 was cancelled - see you next month!

Instead, this section has been taken over by some ne’er-do-wells. We bring you a selection of unorthodox bee collecting techniques. See if one of these fit your style.

Have you ever felt like you were doing something by the seat of your pants? That’s just what Ellen Silva was doing on her last collecting trip when she felt a buzz between her trousers and her skin. We are all grateful that Susan Albright and Carol Yamada didn’t capture a video of the release of said bee, but we did get a few photos of some other novel approaches to bee collecting, for your edification and amusement.

If two nets are good, why not three? Two on the back and one in hand.

Don’t spend all your time looking at the ground, there are bees in the trees! We found many species buzzing this fir and lapping up resin or sap on the needles. We invited quite a few home with us.

When seeking bees in over-sized foliage, one net is not enough, or you’ll be skunked.

We thought we’d invented a new way to catch fly-by bees, but research at OSU showed this technique had been used before. We claim an improvement with 4X the netting capability and will be filing our patent soon.

However you collect bees, don’t forget to have fun.

Good advice from great melittologists

Connecting with fellow volunteers is a crucial part of learning and gaining insight and knowledge.

Cool stuff

Thanks to Robin Gill for sending on these tidbits.

I've stuck these little magnetic Gator Eyes lights to my tweezers to help with pinning. — Robin

Five for $17.99 on the company website (cheaper on Amazon, but your editor likes to editorialize).

 

The Art of Pollination: Introducing Artist Merry Goldthorpe

Merry Goldthorpe is an artist living in Washington County, Oregon with her photographer husband Chris. She creates whimsical felted bee creatures, nature-themed watercolors, and charming mixed media pieces of animals.

Chris photographs her delightful creations. Check out her website or visit in person during  Washington County Open Studios October 21-22.


Photo credits (note: if submitting photos of kids, please be sure to have permission for their use in our newsletter).

  • Hell’s canyon photos: Sarah Gardner

  • Mt Hood: Michael O’Loughlin

  • Carol Yamada: OBA member in field at Penstemon Prairie, lupines at PP, OBA table at Luscher Farms event

  • NW Naturals Pollinator Week event: Marek Stanton

  • Sunriver event: Heike Williams and Toni Stephan

  • Gator eyes: Robin Gill

  • Unorthodox Bee Collecting: Carol Yamada, Susan Albright, Ellen Silva

  • Donation photo: Jennifer Gibbins

  • The Art of Pollination: Chris Goldthorpe

Leave us a comment or start a discussion below

June 2023

Bees are buzzing, and so is the OBA.

I had to go take a nap after including all the great work you OBA members are doing this summer, what with the many outreach events and collecting and training gatherings. Do read through to the end after you look through the pretty pictures, so you don’t miss any of the fun extras.

If you have any feedback or submission for Field Notes or if you want to post notes for your regional team contact Ellen Silva (e.silva@comcast.net). Photo credits are at end of newsletter.

In this issue

Field Notes

Portland Metro permit now live for select parks

The restoration work at Clear Creek Natural Area makes for good collecting. Clear Creek is one of the 6 Metro Parks or Natural Areas where we are allowed to collect. Thanks to Mike Bogar for organizing this May 27 collection event.

The Metro permit is now live - be sure to follow the contact procedure listed in the permit, which is available on Canvas. You can also watch the calendar for events planned by your fellow OBA members — these are popular collecting sites, so there will certainly be more as the summer goes on. (The tarweed at Graham Oaks is sooo good for bees!)

We had quite the collection of collecting events in may/early june!

Both OBA staff-organized and member-created events helped us fill our nets and vials the last few weeks. I can’t emphasize enough that checking the calendar FREQUENTLY is the best way to stay up to date on opportunities.

A coastal visitor to NE Oregon - submitted by Rebecca Cheek of Lincoln County

Far northeastern Oregon is green and blooming and the spring bees are out! On June 2, I (made a too-short visit to a tiny corner of Zumwalt Prairie Preserve (a 33,000 acre Nature Conservancy property) There were a very few bumblebee queens and early workers flying, but other bees were out in numbers: Anthophora, Osmia, Andrena, Melecta, Nomada, Lasioglossum, plus lots of little black bees that will take some scope work to identify. Bees were collected on Potentilla, Penstemon, Eriogonum, Frasera, Geranium, and assorted yellow daisies, plus a drying swale carpeted by a tiny popcornflower (Plagiobothrys) that was swarming with tiny bees and wasps. As usual on collecting adventures, there’s always something unexpected to see. On this day it was a very large stray bull that spent the morning wandering around the vicinity of the barn and nearby trail, causing me to frequently revise my plans for hike direction. At least on the open prairie, it’s easy to see an animal that size from a respectful distance! 

There will be many more flowers (and bees!) yet to come as the season progresses. OBA has a permit to collect on Zumwalt Prairie (see the Permits section in Canvas for details) but check in with the Preserve Manager before you go. The preserve is located about 22 miles from Enterprise on good gravel roads, but some roads on the preserve are only suitable for high clearance vehicles. There is an information kiosk at Duckett Barn, but no drinking water or toilets. Also no cell service. More information and maps here: https://www.nature.org/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/documents/zumwalt-prairie-trails-tour-map-2013.pdf

Camp Polk Field Training - Sisters, OR

On June 11, both seasoned veterans and eager new members enjoyed collecting at Camp Polk, a Deschutes Land Trust preserve just north of Sisters. Blooms included monkeyflower and linearleaf phacelia, bees reported by attendees included Halictus, Lasioglossum, Osmia, Dufourea and perhaps Chelostema. Photos shown here are courtesy of Amanda Egertson, DLT Stewardship Director.

Camassia Preserve - Multnomah County

The Nature Conservancy Camassia preserve comes by its name honestly, and the Camassia leichtlinii was almost as thick as the bee collectors at a recent collection event organized by Carol Yamada - thanks, Carol!

outstanding outreach events!

Shaii Stone shares her love of bees at the Multnomah Master Gardners Incredible Edibles plant sale.

Rachel Phariss also loves to share about bees!

Washington County Master Gardeners delivered another excellent event for families with their “Meet the Mason Bees and Friends” day at the Portland Community College Learning Garden on June 3. Big hits with the crowd included capture and release bee observation and checking out the display of the variety in Oregon native bees, but the fan favorite had to be the male drone petting zoo provided by Mark Gorman. Even though they aren’t native, they do open the door to appreciation of other bees. Thanks, Susan Albright, for a masterful organization job and sharing your great photos.

OBA announcements

Catch a Buzz

Catch a Buzz is the FIRST Tuesday of the month at 7pm. To join, go to https://oregonstate.zoom.us/j/97230252365?pwd=TURyTXNMZ1M5SHl2TFQvajBxemtRdz09 | Password: bees

HOLD THE DATE: OREGON STATE FAIR IS AUGUST 25 TO SEPTEMBER 4

The OBA will have a strong presence at the fair and you are needed to help share our information. Watch for details on signing up to help, but mark your calendars NOW!

have you opted in to be listed in the member directory on the portal?

It is not a requirement to list your contact on the portal, but it sure is useful to fellow members looking to invite you out to collect with them or to share outreach materials or whatever. To opt in, all you have to do is log in, go to the volunteer reporting page, click on the My Profile tab and then click on “Yes” next to the “Opt in?” query towards the top of your profile.

Clark public utilities pollinator festival to feature oba - you can help!

On June 24th Clark Public Utilities will be holding their first Pollinator Festival in Vancouver, WA. Both the OBA and the WA Bee Atlas will be there!. We need people to volunteer at the event. Doug Tallamy will be the keynote speaker and there will be giving tours of the pollinator garden and solar meadow. Many bee groups as well as agencies will be at the event so it will be good time to make connections with other people in this area of interest.

When: June 24 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

From the event website: This family-friendly event will include crafts and activities for children. A demo beehive offers a close-up look at bees. Farmers market booths, seminars with local experts, food trucks and music will add to the fun. Mark your calendar for this lively community celebration of some of the hardest working organisms in the animal kingdom. Dress for the weather and bring your hat, water bottle and some friends!

kudos and thanks are always in season

Thank you to Carol Yamada for creating the pollinator poster that keeps on giving. She recently added new photos to the pollinator garden poster she created for her Lake Oswego garden club, and now the Central Oregon team has, according to her Kudos nominator, “the most gorgeous pollinator poster…that can be shared at OBA and Master Gardener tabling events. This is Carol's own artwork which makes it even more special.”

Another enduring supporter of the OBA, Heike Williams is thanked for “doing the bulk of leading and informing our team the past couple of years...Thanks, Heike, for being a steady leader for our group.”

Small acts mean a lot. Scott Sublette was thanked via Kudo-gram for the loan of a net, and likewise, Shaii Stone was thanked for sticking to her commitment to attend a tabling event despite an injury and some very hot weather.

Debbie Spresser is thanked for coordinating with 2 other OBA members to set up a table at the Earth Day Fair hosted by the Bend Environment Center on April 22, her first time in the lead! And afterwards she right away signed up to take the lead for another event in Bend, the Water-wise Field Day, on June 4.

Leadership like Debbie’s must inspire, because Phil Paterno “helped Debbie to cover the tabling event on Earth Day in Bend in order to "learn the ropes". Then he took all the materials and represented the OBA at the CCOTM Community Garden Party in Prineville on May 13, his first one on his own!”

And finally, in the recognition of great skill, a nominator calls out Martha Richards’ extreme netting talents, showcasing her “Fastest small net, getting two Xylocopa (male and female) in one swift and accurate swoop…”

Do you know someone else who deserves a big thank you for the work they do on behalf of OBA and its volunteers or just deserves a shout-out for their achievements, big or small? You can make that happen! Nominate your personal hero for going above and beyond and after approval by the Advisory Committee, a handwritten note will be sent thanking your special person. All it takes to get the process started is to fill out the nomination form found by clicking HERE.

Calendar

There are loads of collecting opportunities on the calendar already, plus Bee School in August and campouts, too. Plan your collecting season now!

Team news

If you want to include your own team’s news in the Roundup, send it to Ellen Silva (e.silva@comcast.net) the Monday before we publish (typically, the 1st and 3d Monday of the month).

Linearleaf Phacelia (Phacelia linearis)- C. Yamada

What’s blooming

Combing through iNaturalist over the last week, we note our volunteers have come across some great plants on the hit list or have found bees in areas of special interest. You should be able to revisit these sites. Remember to check the permit requirements for these sites in Canvas.

Mountain Blue Penstemon (Penstemon laetus)

- Katharina Davitt- Klamath County, OR (June 13)

Rock Buckwheat (Eriogonum sphaerocephalum) - Rick Williams - Harney County, OR (June 13

Checkerblooms (Genus Sidalcea) - Pam Hayes - Washington County (June 12)

Please remember to include images of the flower, the leaves, and the entire plant with all your submissions. Only include images of the plants you collect on, not bees, in the Oregon Bee Atlas (Plant Images/Sample ID) project.

miscellany (not to be missed)

Catch A Buzz: june6,2023 Summary submitted by the brilliant Martha Richards

Disclaimer: This summary is not going to do justice to Steve Gomes' amazing presentation, so if you are at all interested in the topic of rearing bumblebees, watch the recording of Catch a Buzz (it will be posted to Canvas). It's fascinating.  Also, Steve said that he would follow up with pictures and references, so stay tuned as those resources will find their way to the Roundup .

Upcoming events: June is a busy month for field trainings; pay attention to the calendar in Canvas. Also, if you're planning a bee outing and want to invite others to join you, be sure to post that to Canvas (for information about how to do that, check the FAQs page in Canvas).

Field Trainings (Please RSVP!)

  • Sunday June 11th: Sisters

  • Friday June 16th : Mt. Emily (near La Grande)

  • Sunday June 18th: Penticon, B.C. (to coincide with the B.C. Native Bee School)

  • June 23-25: campout at Hells Canyon

  •  Thursday June 29th : Stoller Family Estate Vineyard

Outreach opportunities: Pay attention to your email inbox because Jen frequently sends outreach opportunities. The Oregon State Fair is one fabulous opportunity, as volunteering comes with free admission to the fair. Not only that, but Steve Gomes has been staffing the bee booth for the entirety of the fair (10 days long!) for a number of years, so if you want to spend a day peppering him with questions (in between answering questions from the general public, of course), this is your opportunity to do so. Jen will send out the outreach request when the time comes. 

Raising Bumblebees, presented by Steve Gomes

Steve is active in both the Master Beekeeper and Master Melittologist programs; he achieved the Master level certification of the beekeepers program last year and is currently working on his Journey level certification for the melittologist program. 

The greenhouse industry relies heavily on (cultivated) bumblebees to pollinate many of their crops, tomatoes being among the most important because they require "buzz" pollination (where the flower only releases its pollen when it's vibrated at a certain frequency -- bumblebees vibrate but honeybees don't).  These cultivated bumblebees are a potential vector for disease, as the bumblebees are not necessarily locally-grown, meaning that they can be shipped farther than a bee might naturally fly. More concerning is that one study found that over 70% of the bumblebees they examined carried some sort of disease. When those cultivated bees escape from the greenhouse (as some inevitably do), there is a high risk of transmitting their diseases to local native bumblebee populations. Oregon prohibits the import of non-native bumblebees, which reduces the risk of non-native bees establishing a foothold here (we're looking at you, Bombus impatiens). That said, native species that were cultivated elsewhere can be imported, along with any diseases that might be hitching a ride. There is a local need for cultivated bumblebees for research and agriculture, and Steve recently became interested in learning how to cultivate bumblebees.

Must-Read: Owen, Robin. Rearing Bumble Bees for Research and Profit: Practical and Ethical Considerations.

(Citation coming with Steve's notes...or look it up on the internet).

Steve started the process by collecting queens in the early spring, shortly after they emerged from hibernation but before they started a nest. He looked for bees engaged in a seeking behavior, zig-zagging around just above the ground level (they're looking for a suitable nest site) and made sure that they weren't carrying pollen, as that would mean that they have already established a nest and are foraging to feed their offspring. He used Bombus melanopygus and B. vosnesenskii because they are abundant in his area. He built individual nesting boxes and kept them well-provisioned with ample fresh pollen and nectar, replenishing the supplies every three days. Multiple nesting boxes were placed in larger plastic boxes whose climate was carefully controlled in terms of heat and humidity. The most important things to provide were an abundance of pollen (Steve collected it from his honeybee colonies but he said that there are fresh-frozen pollen products available; the key is that the pollen must be fresh); nectar (his nectar solution was thinner than what beekeepers provide for honeybees because the bumblebees don't have access to plain water); and a place to lay eggs (he dipped his pollen balls in beeswax, so after the queen polished off the pollen she could lay eggs in the empty wax cup). He found that about 25% of the bees he captured successfully laid eggs and raised some young. Things went well until the fourth week when, for some unknown reason, the bees started dying off. Steve is looking into why that happened. Again, this is a very brief summary of Steve's presentation, which included photographs of his nesting boxes, feeding systems, and pollen balls; and videos of the bees in the boxes. When the recording is available on Canvas, it's a definite must-watch. 

When the floor opened for questions, a number of people asked about how Steve relocates bumblebee nests. He relocates bumblebee nests on request, usually when the nest is located where people are getting stung or sometimes when the nest is about to be disturbed by construction or remodeling. If the nest is in a bird box, he makes sure that there is only one entrance/exit and then waits until after dusk when all of the bees have returned to the nest. Then he plugs the entrance with steel wool and moves the bird box very gently to a new location (usually not far from the original spot), secures the box, and removes the steel wool.

When a nest is in the ground, he uses a special bee vacuum that he modified to gently vacuum up the guards and aggressive bees of the colony. After they're taken care of (the vacuum doesn't harm them, and he cools them to slow them down and make them calmer), he digs up the rest of the nest, collects the rest of the bees, and gently moves it to a new spot. The key to moving any bumblebee nest is to keep the queen in good condition, and make sure she travels with the nest.

Finding fracta (not) [, Calliopsis (Rozen, 1952)]

submitted to a grateful editor by David Kollen

Sometimes (not often), I imagine Linc as a "mad scientist", looking up from his microscope with a mischievous grin. He has thought of a new victim, what their quarry will be, and is thinking about their upcoming travails.

I don't remember exactly where we were when Linc told me about the Eriodictyon bee, but I do remember it was at last year’s Herb Pharm Pollinator Conservation Day. I can remember parts of his siren song: “Dave . . .  Yerba-Santa bee . . . never been collected in Oregon . . .”

And, I can definitely remember my first time looking for the target. I was baking in the sunny Klamath Mountains, enjoying a serpentine-dominated view with a mass of California Yerba Santa (Eriodictyon californicum) in the foreground. It seemed a likely spot to find my bee, so I walked back to my 4Runner and grabbed a net.

As I stood near a Yerba Santa plant, swatting away the occasional biting fly, I remembered pictures of the bee on Discover Life. They seemed distinctive enough, and I had hastily committed them to memory. It wasn’t long before the Apoidean gods granted me a gift, actually three gifts!

Some of you might be wondering: “Why haven’t I heard about a new Calliopsis record in Oregon?” Well, mental images can be blurry, whether the cause is old age, too much Cabernet, or both. Believe it or not, it turns out there is more than one bee that's somewhat smaller than a honey bee with a dark abdomen and light-colored stripes. Who would’ve guessed?

What’s the moral of this story? I think maybe there are a couple of them. First, as Odysseus famously knew, beware siren songs! Second, if you think you might have defied the odds and collected something new, don’t place a bet on it. (Editor’s note: Third, beware taxonomists with sly grins.)

Anthophora californica (c)Peter Bryant

Calliopsis fracta (c)Hartmut Wisch

Carol Yamada was in the news again for sharing her knowledge of bees via the Luscher Farms pollinator garden designed and maintained by the Lake Grove Garden Club of which Carol is a driving force. The article promotes their June 24 pollinator celebration. Learn more about that event HERE. (Yes, Carol knows the sign is upside down; this was the unboxing of her work of art in preparation for installing it.)

Ground Nesting Bee Project - an easy add to your iNat work for the Atlas

Bryan Danforth (you’ll recognize that name as one of the authors of The Solitary Bee) asks that we join in an effort to better understand the needs of ground-nesting bees. In Brian’s words:

Dear Pollinator Enthusiasts, 

Our lab has recently initiated a community science project focused on mapping (and ultimately conserving) aggregations of ground-nesting bees using the iNaturalist platform. We are calling this “Project GNBee” and we would like to spread the word among colleagues and prospective partners. Here are some links to give you more background on the project:  

GNBee website  iNaturalist project  

Would you please spread the word? We would also be interested in your thoughts on the project and how we can improve and expand it. The project will help us understand how factors like topography and soil characteristics impact the locations of nesting aggregations and may allow us to create suitable nesting habitat in the future. We also hope that the project will lead to conservation efforts focused on protecting sites that host large aggregations of ground-nesting, wild bees.  

For further inquiries and suggestions please contact the project lead, Jordan Kueneman, at groundnestingbees@gmail.com. 

Thanks for your help and feedback,  Bryan Danforth 

Donating to the oba is always in season

Do you really want another tie (can’t really wear them in the field when you’re collecting bees) or flower arrangement (unless it comes with bees, I’m not interested)? Why not suggest to your kids/nieces/nephews that instead of Mother’s/Father’s day gifts or for spring birthdays, they give a donation in your name to the Jerry and Judity Paul Native Pollinator Endowment and help fund the future of the OBA!

Share these instructions: Start by clicking HERE and in the “I want to give to…” field, start typing “Jerry & Judith Paul Native Pollinator Endowment” and it should pop right up. Be sure to select this exact destination for your funds to get it in the right place. And thank you in advance!

For Sale to Good Home - Good Microscopes from a Good Guy

Jerry Paul has a couple of microscopes he is looking to interested in re-homing. Maybe that home is yours? Per Jerry:

With Bee school coming up I thought a student or two might be looking for a microscope.
I have two available and the two attachments give a pretty good idea what they are.
The compact scope in its carrying case was one I used I used while camping. Compact battery-operated lights. The second one will fill all the students needs into the future.

See all the details for SCOPE 1 HERE and for SCOPE 2 HERE. Email Jerry by clicking HERE.

Good advice from great melittologists

After you look at a thousand bees, some of the traits that were
impossible in the first hundred bees become easy. Some don't, but give it another thousand bees!

  • Header photo: Carol Yamada

  • Meet the Mason Bees photos: Susan Albright

  • Incredible Edibles photos: Rachel Phariss

Leave us a comment or start a discussion below

May 2023

finally, a few days that are field-worthy!

If April weather didn’t cooperate with your bee collecting plans, May is sure to. And you can fill in any gaps with outreach events. Get your inspiration from the folks and events described below.

If you have any feedback or submission for Field Notes or if you want to post notes for your regional team contact Ellen Silva (e.silva@comcast.net). Photos below are from your editor unless noted.

In this issue

Field Notes

Finally out in the field with field school

Every time you hear someone say how fun Bee Camp aka Oregon Native Bee Field School aka SFI Field School is, well, you should just double that ‘cause it’s impossible to say in words how much fun it truly is. Don’t these people look like they were having a good time? Check out more of the action in the description and gallery below.

What happens when you put a mix of USFWS folks, grad students from OSU and UO, amateur melittologists both new to the field and experienced, plus Bee Atlas leaders from Oregon AND Washington all in one place for a full three days of lectures and collecting and botanizing and camp-firing? Everyone has tons of fun and learns a lot. Check out all the photos of happenings and surroundings to get an idea of why you should try to be there next year. Check out the Siskiyou Field Institute website for other field based nature learning opportunities (and if you go, catch a few bees for the Atlas in this highly diverse landscape).

Fun people with mad skillz - we learned from grad students looking into environmental DNA and AI as survey techniques, USFWS folks who are working to protect the Western Bumblebee and are searching for Franklin’s bumblebee, and professionally trained melittologists as well as learning from each other.

The scenery of the area is only beaten by the flora and fauna.

Hot days, chilly nights. The time passed too fast, but ended with a bang. At least Linc seems to think so.

Some friendly bees in Scappoose!

What’s an Earth Day Event without pollinators? Debra Brimacombe staffed a booth at the Scappoose Earth Day Event and got a hand from Robin Gill with costuming, handouts and more. The booth was very popular, with several hundred people examining bee displays, receiving handouts and seeds, and learning more about our native bees. Thanks to Robin for letting us know about the great job Debra did. To quote her, “Debi is the bee’s knees!”

making the most of a slow start to spring

A great group of melittologists gathered to survey the Mariposa Preserve on Earth Day — but since there was nothing blooming at Mariposa, they met up at the Rogue River Preserve followed by a visit to the Agate Desert in Medford instead. Lomatium, Plagiobothrys, Prunus, and other flowers were attracting early Andrena and plenty of Ceratina. The Earth Day cookies offered by the Southern Oregon Land Conservancy were attracting plenty of melittologists. Check out all the photos from the day in the gallery below. (Thanks to Rachel Phariss for many of them!)

omsi after dark is full of bees!

RB and Jan Buschmann were so swamped by avid pollinator lovers at their table at the April OMSI After Dark that they never had a chance to take any photos. At least we have a photo or two of their great display of common bees. Jan reports that Kim Brown’s talk about the OBA was a smash, and Susan Albright sneaked some good bee material into her Master Gardener table. Hundreds and hundreds of people asked about bees and the OBA at this event and these volunteers smashed it out of the park!

Now those are some big bees! Kim Brown presents at OMSI After Dark.

OBA announcements

Catch a Buzz

Catch a Buzz is the FIRST Tuesday of the month at 7pm. To join, go to https://oregonstate.zoom.us/j/97230252365?pwd=TURyTXNMZ1M5SHl2TFQvajBxemtRdz09 | Password: bees

Columbia land trust offers two special collecting opportunities - coming up soon!

Mosier Plateau May 4: Our annual Mosier Plateau Preserve OBA collection day is on Thursday, May 4th at 11am. Mosier Plateau is a land trust preserve in Mosier, OR with spectacular spring wildflower diversity, clifftop Gorge views, and a public trail. You can learn more about Mosier Plateau here. This outing will include easy, meandering hiking at your own pace. Mosier is about an hour drive from Portland going east on I-84. We invite you to bring a lunch and your OBA supplies and spend the day collecting native Gorge bees with us. More information to come to those who sign up.

Mt Ulka May 7: The first ever OBA outing at Mt Ulka near the Discovery Center in the Dalles is going to be on Sunday, May 7th at 11am. The Mt Ulka preserve is currently closed to the public, but has a permit to create a public trail up to the shrub steppe cliff edges with spectacular Gorge views. You can learn about plans for Mt Ulka here. This outing will require some meandering hiking including some moderately difficult terrain. We will meet at the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center in the Dalles, about an hour and twenty-minute drive from Portland. More information to come to those who sign up.

If you are interested in either of the above opportunities, contact Frances Fischer, Land Trust Coordinator for the Friends of the Columbia Gorge Land Trust, at her office (971.634.0593) or by cell (615.772.4905) or email (frances@gorgefriends.org).

kudos to debi brimacombe and jan mcdaniel!

Thank you to Debi Brimacombe for making a new OBA member’s journey easier by inviting them to join in on a tabling event and introducing them to other members. From the person who nominated them for a Kudos note, “She is very knowledgeable and a delight to be around. Her energy is inspiring!”

And thanks to Jan McDaniel for her work educating wetland volunteers on bees and teaching three classes that came out to the wetlands on field trips about pollinators, then helping them with their classroom presentations. All this and a pollinator garden, too, which she has created as an unofficial Atlas Bee Garden for educational purposes.

Do you know someone else who deserves a big thank you for the work they do on behalf of OBA and its volunteers? You can make that happen! Nominate your personal hero for going above and beyond and after approval by the Advisory Committee, a handwritten note will be sent thanking your special person. All it takes to get the process started is to fill out the nomination form found by clicking HERE.

journey level orientation moved to May 9 @ 7pm — check the email from jen for details!

Calendar

There are loads of collecting opportunities on the calendar already, plus Bee School in August and campouts, too. Plan your collecting season now!

Team news

If you want to include your own team’s news in the Roundup, send it to Ellen Silva (e.silva@comcast.net) the Monday before we publish (typically, the 1st and 3d Monday of the month).

Siskiyou Mat (Ceanothus pumilus) - E. Watrous

What’s blooming

Combing through iNaturalist over the last week, we note our volunteers have come across some great plants on the hit list or have found bees in areas of special interest. You should be able to revisit these sites. Remember to check the permit requirements for these sites in Canvas.

Birchleaf Mountain Mahogany (Cercocarpus betuloides)- Martha Richards- Josephine County, OR (April 24)

Biscuitroots (Genus Lomatium) - Josephine County, OR (April 25)

Evergreen Huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum) - Scott Sublette - Heceta Head, OR (April 27)

Please remember to include images of the flower, the leaves, and the entire plant with all your submissions. Only include images of the plants you collect on, not bees, in the Oregon Bee Atlas (Plant Images/Sample ID) project.

miscellany (not to be missed)

Catch A Buzz: Summary submitted by the brilliant Martha Richards

Upcoming Events: Weather is finally warming up, which means that there are plenty of field events on the calendar. Do remember to check the calendar for last-minute additions. Also, please RSVP so that the event organizers can send you more detailed information or let you know if the collection event is cancelled due to bad weather.

  • May 4th:  Mosier Plateau. Balsamroot and other wildflowers are in bloom; this is a stunning site in the Gorge worth visiting.

  • May 6th and 7th: Wild Horse Wind Farm (WA). The Washington Bee Atlas is getting underway, and this is their first collection event. Yippee!

  • May 7th: Mt. Ulka. This is another site in the Gorge near the Columbia River Gorge Discovery Center.

  • May 13th: Nanaimo, BC. Canada's getting going as well! Camas and other flowers should be in bloom.

Announcements: The first meeting to discuss the journey level with Sarah Gardner has been moved to May 9th. If you've signed up, you should have received an email.

USFS Permit (officially, the Nominal Effect letter): OBA members may collect on USFS lands but with some conditions -- no queen bumblebees can be collected, and no collecting in designated wilderness areas. Unlike in years past, we are not required to notify USFS biologists prior to collecting, but it is still a good idea to check in with a USFS representative to keep current on the local conditions. Also, it's a good idea to print the Nominal Effects letter and carry it with you just in case. Details about collecting on USFS lands, along with the Nominal Effects letter, can be found on Canvas (go to the FAQ page).

Special Presentation: Ms. Silva Goes to Washington, or "What I did on my spring vacation"

Ellen Silva regaled us with a wonderful tale of her adventures in the American History Museum in Washington, D.C. Last year, she spent a week at OSU helping Linc to sort and identify bees which began her deep dive into Diadasia. The main key for this genus is an unpublished Ph.D. dissertation from 1969; the only reference materials available to Ellen in Corvallis were from Linc's private collection because the Oregon State Arthropod Collection is closed due to building renovations. The limited references left Ellen with a number of questions (apparently, confusion with relative terms in the dichotomous keys is pretty common -- makes you feel better, no?) and few answers. 

When Ellen found herself planning a trip to visit her daughter in New York City, she realized that the American Museum of Natural History was a short train ride away, and that its collections included lots and lots of Diadasia specimens. Before her trip, she requested research permission to view the Diadasia collection, and not only was it approved, she got to meet Brian Danforth (author of The Solitary Bees) and waltz past the long lines of visitors to pick up her special backstage pass. She had done a fair amount of pre-trip prep work so she knew exactly which bees she wanted to look at and what parts of the bees she wanted to check out to better illustrate some of those couplets. As a result, she learned a lot, saw a lot of bee parts, and cleared up a lot of confusion (and it sounds like she really impressed the people at the museum as well!).

Her take-home messages are:

  • --There are lots of Natural History museums across the country and around the world. They all have reference collections that are open to the public upon request. They're also generally really happy to open their collections to researchers because this kind of information sharing is exactly why those collections exist. Your interest in their collections is proof of support for their mission. All you have to do is ask!

  • Give yourself lots of time. Ellen spent a day in the museum, but could have easily spent more time there and regrets that she didn't have enough time to also visit their library. That said, her husband is probably happy that he was only abandoned for one day of their vacation.

  • Do your research beforehand. Part of what made Ellen's visit so fruitful was the fact that she had spent time preparing for the visit so she knew exactly what she was looking for when she got there.

  • Melittologists are super-nice people (but Ellen probably already knew that already).

Next Month: Andony is working hard to respond to feedback to make Catch a Buzz more buzzy (and it's working!). Next month, Steve Gomes is going to give a presentation on rearing bumblebees. It sounds like it'll be really interesting, so try to tune it!  

brush up on the best plants for bees in Oregon with Amy Campion - May 11@7pm via zoom

From Amy, a current OBA apprentice-melittologist-in-training: I am giving a Zoom talk on May 11 to the Native Plant Society of Oregon entitled "Northwest Native Garden Plants and the Amazing Insects They Attract." I will talk about several bees in it and also mention the Oregon Bee Atlas. Is there someplace I could post the announcement so my fellow melittologists will know about it? I'd like to do the talk for other groups as well, so I want more people to see it who might want me to speak to their group. I also plan on putting another talk together on gardening for bumble bees. Zoom link HERE.

The USFWS is very interested in the biology of the Western Bumblebee (Bombus occidentalis) so the recent discovery of a nest by our own Lincoln Best and USFWS conservation biologist Alan Yanahan was a big find. Waiting till the end of the season to allow the nest life cycle to complete, a team from OBA and USFWS carefully excavated the nest and are now unlocking its secrets through extensive analysis. Read the complete story HERE.

Donating to the oba is always in season

Do you really want another tie (can’t really wear them in the field when you’re collecting bees) or flower arrangement (unless it comes with bees, I’m not interested)? Why not suggest to your kids/nieces/nephews that instead of Mother’s/Father’s day gifts or for spring birthdays, they give a donation in your name to the Jerry and Judity Paul Native Pollinator Endowment and help fund the future of the OBA!

Share these instructions: Start by clicking HERE and in the “I want to give to…” field, start typing “Jerry & Judith Paul Native Pollinator Endowment” and it should pop right up. Be sure to select this exact destination for your funds to get it in the right place. And thank you in advance!

Send your OBA news to the Round-Up editor, Ellen Silva at e.silva@comcast.net!

Good advice from great melittologists

Tackle the online material ASAP and key out as many bees as you can.

Leave us a comment or start a discussion below

April 2023

spring is coming. really.

The cold and rain have seemed endless, but the season is about to turn. In the meantime, lots of OBA members are keeping busy holding wonderful outreach events. Those who are waiting to collect bees will have their turn soon. Get those nets cleaned and collection vials prepped, it’s going to be a good year!

If you have any feedback or submission for Field Notes or if you want to post notes for your regional team contact Ellen Silva (e.silva@comcast.net). Thanks to Carol Yamada for the lovely Andrena image in our header photo as well as the outreach photos and to Lincoln Best for the parataxonomy photojournalism. Other photos/screenshots from your editor.

In this issue

Field Notes

it’s always outreach and taxonomy season

Lori Humphrey working in the bee lab curating the Microandrena subgenus of our impressive Andrena collection.

RB and Jan Buschman, along with Carol Yamada, shared OBA excitement at the City of Tualatin Arbor Day event. Friends of Trees PDX and over 100 volunteers planted native plants and a pollinator garden as part of the festivities!

A chilly weekend but a warm welcome from wine club members at Soter Vineyards as volunteers and Andony introduced the OBA and the Bee-Friendly Vineyard program to Soter Wine Club members.

Flowers are starting to open

iNaturalist records for the OBA show a trickle of blooms down the Willamette Valley - many are dandelions and English Daisies, but beggers can’t be choosers.

The map from Pacific Northwest Wildflowers is showing a few more blossoms opening up (besides those in Scott Sublette’s back yard!).

But speaking of Scott S’s backyard, there is a whole heap of Columbia desert parsley blooming in The Dalles area. Here Mike Bogar scouts for the few bees that braved a cool, grey day at Four Sisters Preserve, a Columbia Land Trust property.

OBA announcements

Catch a Buzz

Catch a Buzz is the FIRST Tuesday of the month at 7pm. To join, go to https://oregonstate.zoom.us/j/97230252365?pwd=TURyTXNMZ1M5SHl2TFQvajBxemtRdz09 | Password: bees

service point opportunities

Watch your email for announcements from Jen for a wide variety of service point opportunities throughout the state. Please contact the event organizer directly as Jen doesn’t have capacity to manage who is volunteering where. If you are new to the OBA and hesitant to volunteer on your own, feel free to contact the organizer and tell them that you are willing to help IF a more experienced member also signs up.

serve the atlas by helping us all build our rare bee collection

Linc would love it if someone (or two or three) folks would be willing to sort through and organize a data set that lists where and when and from what flower some of our more uncommon bees have been collected. This would give us all a tool to plan collection trips targeting filling out the collection of these special bees. Linc imagines something of a calendar, but format would be up to the abilities and creativity of the volunteer. Contact Linc directly if you are interested in helping.

kudos to those who deserve them

Has something gone better in your OBA journey because of the action of an unsung hero? Maybe you’ve gotten to go on more collecting trips because another volunteer took it upon themselves to organize events in your area or maybe a staff member helped you untangle a snarl of passwords or another member helped you organize materials for an Outreach event. You said thanks but felt it needed to be said louder. Now you can make that happen! Nominate your personal hero for going above and beyond and after approval by the Advisory Committee, a handwritten note will be sent thanking your special person. All it takes to get the process started is to fill out the nomination form found by clicking HERE.

Calendar

There are loads of collecting opportunities on the calendar already, plus Bee School in August and campouts, too. Plan your collecting season now!

Team news

If you want to include your own team’s news in the Roundup, send it to Ellen Silva (e.silva@comcast.net) the Monday before we publish (typically, the 1st and 3d Monday of the month).

PDX

The PDX team held a tasty meetup at the food truck pod near John’s Marketplace on Powell Blvd. Next meetup will be in the field!

Columbia Desert Parsley (Lomatium columbianum) - S.Sublette

What’s blooming

Combing through iNaturalist over the last week, we note our volunteers have come across some great plants on the hit list or have found bees in areas of special interest. You should be able to revisit these sites. Remember to check the permit requirements for these sites in Canvas.

Willows (Genus Salix)- Leana Dickerson- Jefferson, OR (April 3)

Osoberry (Oemleria cerasiformis)- larathon59 - Portland, OR (April 1)

Bigseed Biscuitroot (Lomatium macrocarpum) - Ellen Silva - The Dalles, OR (March 15)

Please remember to include images of the flower, the leaves, and the entire plant with all your submissions. Only include images of the plants you collect on, not bees.

miscellany (not to be missed)

Catch A Buzz: Summary submitted by the brilliant Martha Richards

Welcome back, seasoned melittologists, and welcome aboard, new folks! 

Check the Calendar on Canvas! This part of the summary practically writes itself: remember to check the calendar on Canvas for upcoming events. Most of the major events for 2023 are on the calendar now, but new ones pop up periodically so it's worth checking it from time to time. 

April highlights:

  • Out-of-state mentor session April 19th

  • Boise, Idaho collection event with Amy Dolan on April 22nd

  • Mariposa Preserve (near Ashland, OR) collection event on April 22nd

    • A note about this event: the Mariposa Preserve monitoring is funded by a Bureau of Land Management research grant and is scheduled to include multiple collection events. That said, the timing of the release of funds is uncertain, so future collection events will be scheduled when those funds become available.

  • Bee Camp at the Siskiyou Field Institute April 23-26

    • This event includes microscope time; they are currently about 3 microscopes short of a full lab so if you have a portable scope and are planning to attend, please contact Linc.

Outreach

New and improved seed mixes are now available upon request, along with all of the other outreach materials like information cards and pamphlets.  Use the request form -- in Canvas, look at the FAQ page and scroll down to Outreach Materials.

Outreach requests (aka service point opportunities) are coming in fastly and furiously with Earth Day quickly approaching. If you're interested but tentative about volunteering for any event, do reply to the event coordinator with your interest, but request that they let you know if someone else is planning to go -- chances are good that there will be someone else to be your outreach pal. Also, a small group of OBA volunteers is working on making outreach materials and resources more easily available, so hope is near.

FAQs: We've all wondered the very same things. How do I get more boxes or pins? Who do I contact for help with this that or the other thing? Do we have a permit to collect on this site? Is there a taxonomic key for this adorable bee? The FAQ page on Canvas (go to the course's home screen, admire the photo of those fearless OBA members, and the scroll down a bit to the big buttons listing various topics) has answers to these most...um...frequently asked questions. 

The Portal: Apparently some people are living in areas where it's warm enough that bees are flying around. Not all of us are, and those of us still getting hail in our hair on an all-too-frequent basis aren't necessarily bitter about it (okay maybe we are a little bitter), but yes, some people have been catching bees lately. Those of you early birds should know that the regular process for doing the iNaturalist entry, confirming your data, and updating the number of bees is totally on track, and will result in getting location labels in the mail as it has happened in years past. Leah, our wonderful label czar, is currently clearing the portal of 2022 data and prepping it for 2023, but she's also paying attention to incoming reports so it's open season on our native bees. (Can I just mention here that the early bird might get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese?) 

iNaturalist: The iNaturalist app is how we collect the data that are the basis of the OBA. Linc reviewed the process for using this app, but remember that there is a module on using the app and entering your data. If you're new, you'll certainly be viewing the module, and if you've been collecting for a season or two, it couldn't hurt to rewatch the module. TL;DR: be sure to take plenty of photos of the plant. Take a close-up or two of the flowers, including the underside of the blooms. Document the leaves, branches, branching patterns, and overall plant habit. More photos = more better, especially if you have any doubt about the plant identification.

Rare Bees: In the annals of the OBA, there are plenty of bee species that are poorly represented, and Linc would very much like our help finding more specimens. That said, while he has the information about such species and their plant hosts, he lacks the time to compile this information into a user-friendly format to guide us to where, when, and what to look for. If you are interested in helping to turn his mess of data into a bee-hunter's treasure map, please contact Linc.

The Genus Andrena

Spring is here according to the calendar, and we hope, it will arrive sometime soon according to the weather. And spring means Andrenas! These mostly ground-nesting bees overwinter as adults, so as soon as things get warm enough, they're out and about. Many are plant specialists -- Linc noted that there are a number of coastal, Manzanita-loving Andrenas that are very lightly documented (hmmm...a hint for the rare bee hunters). Andrenas in Oregon are particularly diverse, as there are dozens of subgenera and over one hundred species here.  Along with this diversity comes a treasure trove of documentation. In the taxonomic literature that's available to OBA members (Canvas --> FAQs --> Literature, taxonomic keys), Linc has created a subfolder for Andrenas. It's great bedtime reading, and also a great way to impress the person sitting next to you on your next flight.  He noted that there's a standard template for each species account so once you are familiar with the format, it's easy to flip through quickly and glean the relevant information. 

Weather: 2023 is a heavy snow pack year, and we're looking at an extended spring. Wildflower blooms are likely to be extra-special this year, and there will likely be an lots of opportunities to find "early" bees in the coming months. There are multiple resources for finding out what the snowpack/bloom time looks like, including Snotel which will give you the USDA interactive map of snowpack levels (hint, not many bees fly when the ground is covered in snow) and the Northwest Wildflowers site.

In your excitement to net a bee, don’t bring home a nasty, itchy rash. Check out this extension publication for aid in identifying poison oak and treating its aftermath. It is NOT a good idea to collect bees off poison oak. They can carry the active ingredient, urushiol, on their bodies, putting the pinner and taxonomist at risk.

Donating to the oba is always in season

Do you really want another tie (can’t really wear them in the field when you’re collecting bees) or flower arrangement (unless it comes with bees, I’m not interested)? Why not suggest to your kids/nieces/nephews that instead of Mother’s/Father’s day gifts or for spring birthdays, they give a donation in your name to the Jerry and Judity Paul Native Pollinator Endowment and help fund the future of the OBA!

Share these instructions: Start by clicking HERE and in the “I want to give to…” field, start typing “Jerry & Judith Paul Native Pollinator Endowment” and it should pop right up. Be sure to select this exact destination for your funds to get it in the right place. And thank you in advance!

Check out this nice piece on the latest OBA collaboration for native bee health - Bee-Friendly Vineyards!

Send your OBA news to the Round-Up editor, Ellen Silva at e.silva@comcast.net!

Good advice from great melittologists

Becoming a Master Melittologist is a wonderful way to appreciate, honor and learn about nature, to slow down and see the intricacies and interconnections of the ecosystems.

Leave us a comment or start a discussion below

Round-Up: March 2023

“So, this is your work.” —L. R. Best

This issue of the Roundup is going to be heavy on conference reporting, which means heavy on celebrating the accomplishments of every member of the Atlas. Every hour sharing info at an outreach table, every trailhead talk, every single bee turned in — it all adds up to the amazing accomplishments of the Oregon Bee Atlas. This year’s conference showed that more clearly than ever. Enjoy perusing the pictures, and don’t forget to check on Canvas in a few weeks for the recording so you can relive every minute.

Please note: if you received this by email, some of the content may have been cut off. If so, click the link at the bottom and access the full post.

If you have any feedback or submission for Field Notes or if you want to post notes for your regional team contact Ellen Silva (e.silva@comcast.net).

In this issue

Field Notes

2023 OBA Annual conference: achievements and inspiration

(reported by Ellen Silva)

We are making something really big and really cool and really useful. That is the overall summary I have for you of the 2023 conference. If you missed it, go watch the recordings on Canvas right away; heck, if you were there, go review the key ones just to try to absorb a bit more of the information that was shared.

Linc would love it if we’d go out and hunt for bees in the ovals on the map.

The highlight of the day for me was Linc’s synthesis of what we have accomplished thus far. From new bees found in nets to deeper understanding of the intricacies of Lasioglossum species in our state via DNA bar coding to a massive and increasingly useful database of bee:flower relationships, Linc showed us how each bee we turn in and each iNat observation we report is valuable. His repeated refrain, “This is your work”, is going to be my rallying cry this summer.

Rebecca Cheek introduces the Tools of the Trade session.

Others showed the impact we are making in the classroom (or at the farmer’s market or science museum or wherever we are doing outreach). Sarah and Jen shared that we logged almost 145 outreach events and over 50 service events. The ever-popular Tools of the Trade session highlighted some of these events and shared ideas and tools to help fellow OBA members take their collecting and info-sharing to new levels.

Sandy DeBano, invertebrate ecologist extraordinaire. (I’m pretty sure those are the words Linc used to describe her.)

Sandy DeBano, OSU associate professor and extension agent, provided a talk that shared insights into human land use impact on invertebrate ecosystems with a focus on native pollinators. Her research provided a concrete example of how work like what we are doing is critical to informing future land use decisions. Listening to her talk about her research areas in the northeastern parts of the state sure has me hoping to get out that way this summer to do some collecting.

Michael O’Loughlin accepted the Partner Award on behalf of NW Naturals who have created a 3-year grant to recognize our work. Scott Sublette received the Most Improved award, and Ellen Silva received the Joe Engler service award.

In amongst the science, we celebrated the achievements of all of us thanks to the newly revamped Awards Program. Rachel Phariss and Bonnie Shoffner have created a framework where all the little things you do to make the Atlas successful can be recognized. This fits right into the big message of the day - it’s ALL of the little bits of data that add up to our group accomplishments; it’s ALL our work.

If reading this summary doesn’t leave you feeling proud of our work and inspired to do more, well, I guess you had to be there. Wait, no you didn’t! You can go watch the presentations on Canvas. Do it right now and be ready to be inspired to have another great year with the OBA.

Photos in the galleries below provided by Bonnie Shoffner and Ellen Silva. There wasn’t enough time in the day for captions for all of them, but we hope you enjoy them, regardless! If you’d like to be able to click the links in Mark Gorman’s presentation on reticles, click HERE first to get to a downloadable copy of his slides.

OBA conference attendees who arrived a day early got treated to a tour of the new Oregon State Arthropod Collection facility.

Sharing information, building science, and laughing at the 2023 conference.

OBA Journey program is ready to launch!

One of the big announcements at the conference was that the Journey Level program is ready to launch. Journey is a good name for the program as participants will take a self-guided journey through in-depth solitary bee scholarship, taxonomy, and service to the OBA. Learn more and register by clicking HERE. Note that if you are registering for the Journey Level program, you do not have to pay the annual OBA fee to keep your participation status active. There is a fee associated with the Journey Level and that is more than enough to cover you!

OBA announcements

KEEP YOUR MEMBERSHIP STATUS ACTIVE

  • Submit annual $30 participation fee (due beginning March 1st each year): https://beav.es/igd

  • Complete annual volunteer service waivers (you are prompted to sign these electronically when you log into the Member Portal - you may have already done this)

  • Earn a minimum of 20 Service Points annually and log the details in the Member Portal (the Service Points reference document can be found in Canvas)

YOUR PARTICIPATION FEE INCLUDES:

  • Continued access to online training modules 

  • Supply refills (boxes, pins, killing jars and fluid, labels) - https://forms.gle/qfsRM6wbm7mF77tU9 

  • Discounted registration fee for Bee School, a five day native bee taxonomy course

  • Admission to the Master Melittologist Conference held in March at the OSU campus in Corvallis

SUPPLY REQUESTS: Volunteers can obtain additional supply refills throughout the year on an as-needed basis (click HERE for form). 

SHIRTS NOW AVAILABLE: Volunteer T-shirts are available for an additional cost - visit: https://www.bonfire.com/master-melittologist/

Life and schedules get busy – if you have the need to step away from the program for a time, let staff know and we can change your status to “inactive”. Your records will remain intact, and you can resume your work at any time in the future.

save the date: Franklin’s bumblebee survey July 10-14 near Ashland, OR - more info to come!

The main date of the survey is July 11, but there will be collecting opportunities before and after. From the organizer (Jeff Everett, Fish and Wildlife Service):

The Mt. Ashland site is the last known location of Franklin’s bumble bee, where a single worker was seen 2006. We survey this site each year in early to mid-July, corresponding with the peak of colony activity, when the most workers should be out on the landscape and detectability is highest. No previous survey effort is necessary and there is no expectation of commitment for the whole week – however much you can participate, we are happy to have you. With nearly 100 people on the first day last year, it’s also a great networking opportunity and a chance to learn from some experts. I will send out an update email later this spring with more details.

help ensure the oba has a strong foundation

We all want to see the OBA build on its early success in understanding just what bees are found in our state. With the amassing of bee:flower relationship data and the growing collaborations with scientists in other states, we are moving boldly in that direction. But to continue expanding our impact , the organization needs to build from a solid fiscal foundation — which is just what a charitable foundation can make possible.

Thanks to Jerry and Judith Paul’s hard work and financial support, we now have the start of such a foundation. When fully endowed (at $2.5 million), the resulting income stream will provide stable funding for taxonomic staff and free up time spent now on looking for the next source of funds to do the important work of deepening our understanding of Oregon bees and working to conserve them.

There is no better way to thank the current staff for the hard work they’ve done to get us this far than by making a donation to the Jerry & Judith Paul Native Pollinator Endowment. Start by clicking HERE and in the “I want to give to…” field, start typing “Jerry & Judith Paul Native Pollinator Endowment” and it should pop right up. Be sure to select this exact destination for your funds to get it in the right place. And thank you in advance!

Mariposa preserve sampling opportunity Details

When: April 22, 2023 with April 23, 2023 as the rain date.

Where: Mariposa Preserve is located on the California border south of Ashland and is within the boundary of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument.

What: This volunteer opportunity includes sampling within the Cascade-Siskiyou Nat. Monument in collaboration with The Understory Initiative. 

RSVP using the form HERE. This is required even if you have previously emailed Linc!

kudos to those who deserve them

Has something gone better in your OBA journey because of the action of an unsung hero? Maybe you’ve gotten to go on more collecting trips because another volunteer took it upon themselves to organize events in your area or maybe a staff member helped you untangle a snarl of passwords or another member helped you organize materials for an Outreach event. You said thanks but felt it needed to be said louder. Now you can make that happen! Nominate your personal hero for going above and beyond and after approval by the Advisory Committee, a handwritten note will be sent thanking your special person. All it takes to get the process started is to fill out the nomination form found by clicking HERE.

email addresses for your program questions and the advisory committee

Effective immediately, you can use the email Mastermelittologist@oregonstate.edu to contact the OBA staff. It will get routed to the proper person to help you out. You can email the advisory panel with your thoughts, concerns, and creative ideas by using the email atlas_advisory@lists.oregonstate.edu which copies the entire panel plus staff with your comments.

Catch a Buzz

Catch a Buzz is the first TUESDAY of every month at 7pm. To join, go to https://oregonstate.zoom.us/j/97230252365?pwd=TURyTXNMZ1M5SHl2TFQvajBxemtRdz09 | Password: bees

Calendar

It’s wonderful! All of the major camping trips and bee school sessions are already posted on the calendar for 2023. Plan your summer now!

Team news

PDX Team

Susan Albright wowed the Lake Grove Garden Club in a presentation where she featured a favorite quote from Gail Langellotto, OSU Extension and Prof.


If you want to include your own team’s news in the Roundup, send it to Ellen Silva (e.silva@comcast.net).

cool stuff we have found

For this month, I suggest you just go review Linc’s conference presentation on Canvas.

So. Many. Cool. Bees.

miscellany (not to be missed)

Catch a Buzz Summary (By Martha Richards)

Annual Conference: The conference was on Sunday and went well. Presentations are now all available on Canvas.

Bee Treasure Hunt: According to Linc, there are a number of bee species that don't have enough specimens in our collection. In some cases, there may be only one specimen; in other cases there may be a few specimens but they're all males. Linc is hoping to carve out some time to assemble a list of such bees, along with information about when and where to look for them, so that we can go out and find some more to fill out the collection.

Upcoming events: As usual, you're encouraged to check the calendar on Canvas for upcoming events. All of this year's major events -- bee school, campouts, and field training events -- are now on the calendar. Smaller collection events and some fall microscope events will be added over time, so do remember to check the calendar periodically for new information. The main March event is the new student online orientation on March 21st. 

Washington Bee Atlas: The WA bee atlas (not sure what their official name is; I'm just making things up here) is getting underway; representatives spent the day talking with Linc and Jen to learn about organizing and managing a statewide survey.

Roadside Management Training: One component of the Oregon Bee Project OBP) is training licensed pesticide applicators. Andony has developed a roadside management training program for departments of transportation that focuses on herbicide application, as that's the primary type of biocide that they use. In the training, he also reviews "super bee plants," or common roadside plants that are very good for bees and that are not invasive and do not pose a problem for road maintenance. He has given this training to a number of groups already and is creating an online program as well.

Bee-Friendly Wine: Another component of the OBP is working with agricultural producers to help them make their land and farming practices more pollinator-friendly. While Andony has received little interest from many growers (yes, this outreach is yet another part of his very busy job), he did find that people in the wine industry were interested. The interest came not so much from the pollinator aspect, but the public-relations aspect: being able to demonstrate that the vineyard is being managed responsibly is good advertising when the public arrives to do wine tasting. There already exists a sustainable-practices certification for wineries (LIVE, more info at livecertified.org), so the OBP is working with this certification program to educate vineyard managers about enhancing the pollinator habitat on their land. The technical smart folks at OSU developed a tool where a user can delineate a specific area (like a vineyard property) and gather all of the iNaturalist plant records within that area, regardless of who created the plant record. The tool will then use the massive OBA database (our bee records!) to correlate which bee species are likely to be feeding on which of those floral hosts. The resulting graph provides an easy-to-understand visual display of which plants are the really good bee hosts and which ones are just pretty splashes of color. The tool also provides some recommendations for plants the vineyard could add to attract more bee species. The long-term hope is that this can be an online tool for widespread use. All of our many bee records are helping to make this a very useful tool.

Bee-Friendly Wine Tours: If you've ever wondered what Andony does all day, here's yet another part of his job: organizing and staffing bee-friendly public outreach events at Willamette Valley wineries. You may have seen a call for volunteers already; expect to see others in the future. Different wineries will have different events that focus on native bees, mason bees, or honey bees.

What is Linc Doing While Andony's Hard at Work? Linc made it clear that the dataset that OBA members have been working to develop is now large enough to be a very useful tool for all kinds of land managers. Linc has been working on a variety of projects that use the OBA data to inform research on land management. One project is analyzing how large solar panel arrays will affect biodiversity. Other projects went in one ear and out the other, but Linc did emphasize how useful it is to have the data.

Will Catch a Buzz Become the Bee's Knees? The membership survey (you did fill it out, right?) revealed that CAB is not the wildly exciting event that its name might suggest it is. Andony is hoping to change that by bringing in more presentations and informative speakers, so if you have a topic that you'd like to present on, let him know. Email your ideas to master.melittologist@oregonstate.edu.

Rare Plant monitoring goes hand in hand with rare bee monitoring!

Those of you collecting in southwestern Oregon may wish to consider contributing to the efforts of the Rare Plant Monitoring Network. This year, they’ll be monitoring species across the Fremont-Winema, Rogue River-Siskiyou, Willamette, Umatilla, and Malheur National Forests. Click here to learn more about their priority species for 2023. 

Interested in volunteering? Sign up for a virtual volunteer orientation: April 6 from 2-4pm or April 8 from 6-8pm. 

Save the Dates: Native Bee Monitoring RCN Data Management Workshop

Day 1: Tuesday, March 28th, 10 am - 2 pm Pacific // Day 2: Thursday, March 30th, 10 am - 2 pm Pacific
The USDA-funded National Native Bee Monitoring Research Coordination Network (RCN) is holding a series of virtual workshops during which they will gather ideas and perspectives from the professional bee monitoring community on strategies for national native bee monitoring practices. They will synthesize discussions and presentations from these workshops into a national native bee monitoring plan. If you are interested, OBA members are welcome to participate. Learn more and register HERE.

BeeBST (#Bee #Biogeography and #Systematics Talks) series

These talks are held on the last Wednesday of every month at 11am Eastern.  Register for any or all of these free Zoom webinars HERE . Upcoming webinars:

  • Wednesday, March 29, 2023, Dr. Manuela Sann - Phylogenomics and the evolution of secondary phytophagy in apoid wasps and bees

  • Wednesday, April 26, 2023, Dr. Margarita M. López-Uribe - The ecology and evolution of squash bees and how humans have influenced their recent history

  • Wednesday, May 31, 2023, Dr. Antonia Aguiar - Unveiling the bees of Cerrado in the track of oil collecting bees of the tribe Tapinotaspidini

Leave us a comment or start a discussion below

February 2023

Halfway to Spring equinox means time to clean up your gear

Hard to believe, but it won’t be long before bees are flying throughout the state. It’s already time to start marking your calendar with collection opportunities - like the survey at Mariposa Preserve (see below) or the Siskiyou Field School (also see below - heck, just read the whole newlsetter, eh?).

If you have any feedback or submission for Field Notes or if you want to post notes for your regional team contact Ellen Silva (e.silva@comcast.net).

In this issue

Field Notes

Scott Sublette displays one of the first OBA specimens for 2023. No surprise she’s a Bombus vosnesenskii. Scott collected her on the coast near Newport.

No yellow on the sternites, and a bright yellow T4!

Living the dream…Ellen Silva and Lincoln Best curating a pile of Diadasia in the lab. Ellen admits it was difficult explaining to her family why spending a week staring through a microscope was a wonderful time, but it most certainly was. Perhaps you will want to give it a try next year?

2023 Master Melittologist Program Oregon Native Bee Field School

Join us for a three-day field training event at the Siskiyou Field Institute outside of Selma, Oregon. Participants will have the opportunity to explore the unique bee fauna of the Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion.  The program will include field and lab instruction. This will consist of field instruction during the morning and early afternoon, followed by late afternoon and evening indoor lectures. The event is open to Master Melittologist students who have completed at least one prior field season. Space is limited. The fee for this program is $300 plus lodging (see flyer for details in Calendar or on Canvas or by clicking HERE). Transportation to the location and meals are the responsibility of attendees. 

LOCATION: Siskiyou Field Institute - 1241 Illinois River Rd, Selma, OR 97538 

DATE/TIME: Participants may arrive at the location Sunday, April 23rd at 4:00pm. Instruction will begin the morning of Monday, April 24th at 9:30 and goes to Wednesday, April 26th at 4:00 

OBA announcements

new email for your program questions

Effective immediately, you can use the email Mastermelittologist@oregonstate.edu to contact the OBA staff. It will get routed to the proper person to help you out. (While Jen is out, that’s likely to be Andony, who is a very busy guy. Your patience will be much appreciated.)

Don’t forget that you can always email the advisory panel with your thoughts, concerns, and creative ideas by using the email atlas_advisory@lists.oregonstate.edu which copies the entire panel plus staff with your comments.

2022 location labels no longer sent automatically

We have come to the point in the year when new location label requests have slowed to a trickle, so we’re not automatically sending them for the rest of this season. If you have some last minute location label needs, please contact Leah directly. She’s at oregonbeeatlas@gmail.com.

Catch a Buzz

Catch a Buzz is the first TUESDAY of every month at 7pm. To join, go to https://oregonstate.zoom.us/j/97230252365?pwd=TURyTXNMZ1M5SHl2TFQvajBxemtRdz09 | Password: bees

Don’t miss February’s session - it will include a presentation by Tom Ebert on using details of wing venation to help with identification.

Still time to register! Annual OBA Conference: sunday, March 5

As before, the conference will be in Corvallis and includes a great keynote speaker, Sandy DeBano (Oregon State University). Sandy’s research focus on how human activities affect invertebrate communities. She’s right at the intersection of agriculture and conservation and should be a fascinating speaker. Register by clicking HERE and filling out the form - it’s free to OBA members and students! If you’ve already registered, you should have received a confirmation email from Jen just this week (Feb 8); if you didn’t, get in touch with her pronto.

See the recent email from Jen Larsen for all the details.

Mariposa preserve sampling opportunity Details

When: April 22, 2023 with April 23, 2023 as the rain date.
Where: Mariposa Preserve is located on the California border south of Ashland and is within the boundary of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument.

What: This volunteer opportunity includes sampling within the Cascade-Siskiyou Nat. Monument in collaboration with The Understory Initiative. 

Email Lincoln with the subject line “Mariposa Preserve” if you are interested. (Lincoln.best@oregonstate.edu)

Calendar

Watch the calendar for added or changed events - as the winter proceeds, there could be cancellations, and there WILL be more events!

Team news

Columbia Plateau

Open Microscope Day in Pendleton on February 18

Join Master Melittologist instructor Sarah Gardner for an informal open mic session in Northeast Oregon. This session is open to all members. To let Sarah know you are coming please RSVP by clicking HERE.

LOCATION: Blue Mountain Community College, 2411 NW Carden Ave, Pendleton OR. Room: Umatilla Hall Conference Room 100. 

DATE/TIME: February 18th, 10am to 4:00pm

PDX

Don’t forget there are some helpful reference sets available for Portland area folks - email Ellen Silva at e.silva@comcast.net to learn more.

Susan Albright invites you to save the date for the Washington County Master Gardeners “Meet the Mason Bees” event: June 3 at PCC Rock Creek. Attend this fun event, or better yet, volunteer and rack up some service points. More info to come, but feel free to contact Susan now if you are interested. They are offering some other cool events, too - check them out by clicking HERE!

Carol will be sharing the joy of native bees with community members via the Lake Oswego Parks & Rec Program. If you know someone who might like to get a primer on the native bees of the Willamette Valley, let them know they can register HERE.


If you want to include your own team’s news in the Roundup, send it to Ellen Silva (e.silva@comcast.net) the Monday before we publish (typically, the 1st and 3d Monday of the month).

cool stuff we have found

Scott Sublette and Joe Engler followed Linc’s advice to collect on willow and were rewarded by finding several specimens of Perdita salicis sublaeta, willow specialists that we hadn’t found in the state since the 1950’s. Given the size of Perdita, it’s no wonder they haven’t been seen for awhile. Maybe they should be renamed Perdita salicis sublette? Female and male faces are below, not to scale.

miscellany (not to be missed)

Catch a Buzz Summary (By Martha Richards)

New Species: Have you ever felt a pang of guilt when you turned in your bee collection and wondered if Linc really wanted to see another bazillion Ceratina? Science has prevailed, and the piles of Ceratina have yielded a new discovery -- another species new to Oregon! So keep those Ceratina coming. Linc loves to see them.

Calendar: The new bee season is underway; stay up-to-date by checking the calendar on Canvas. Microscope trainings, field events, and everything else happening everywhere -- not just in Oregon.

Conference: The annual OBA conference is March 5th, following on the heels of Beevent on March 4th. Be sure to sign up if you plan to attend in person. There is also a virtual option, which keeps getting better each year.

Jen's Back!!! Jen is back with a brand-new knee! [insert joke about bee's knees here -- I'm sure she hasn't heard one of those yet].  If you emailed her while she was out and you haven't heard back, please email her again. If she tried to go back through all of those emails that she received while she was out, she'd never get anything done.

Permits: Andony is working on renewing the Oregon State Parks permit and also renewing/expanding the USFS permit to include Washington and Idaho. They're all very close to completion, but please don't collect on OSP or USFS lands until we have the permits in hand.

Washington State has a taxonomist! Thanks to Washington OBA members' hard work, Washington State has hired Karen Wright, a taxonomist from Texas and a Eucera expert. Great news for Washington, and also a great opportunity for future collaboration with Linc.

License plate is a hit — Marek Stanton's fabulous pollinator license plate shattered popularity records and was a major hit right from the start. Order yours today. Way to go, Marek, you're the bee's knees! (And big kudos to Sarah Kincaid who shepherded this project to the conclusion of the successful pre-sale.)

Thanks, Volunteer Taxonomists! Linc expressed his appreciation for a number of OBA volunteers who helped identify thousands of bees. So many names and so many genera — Halictus alone was handled by Jeanie Taylor, Pat Wheeler and Ellen Silva. Jeanie also took care of Agapostemon and Ellen Watrous found some a couple of new species for the state while curating the male Eucera. 

Survey: Watch your email inbox for a survey: the Advisory Committee wants your input. Please fill it out, and please be honest.

Emails: Andony has been sending out emails; if you haven't received anything from him recently, please let him know. 

Call for Catch a Buzz Presenters: Do you have something you want to share on CAB? Andony is looking for presenters for future meetings.

Thomas Ebert: Bee Wing Morphometrics

Tom brought us tonight's special presentation. He used a computer program to analyze variations in the morphology of the third submarginal cell from a variety of Apis populations in Turkey. His preliminary results suggested that there were different population groups, but the results also left him wondering if the wing morphology variability is indicative of a population group or if it is a result of stress, environmental conditions, timing, or other factors.  This led to a rather interesting discussion of wing veination and issues that impact it. 

On the lighter side, he decried the notorious couplet 12, which asks whether there are one or two subantennal sutures. How many of us have ever seen that second subantennal suture, after all? 

We are now in license plate pre-production! Previously, we were in pre-pre-production. But now that over 3,000 vouchers have been sold (in record time!), the DMV will gear up to produce the actual plates. Folks can sign up HERE to get a notice when production starts. Those who have bought vouchers will receive them in the mail at that time, no need to sign up for a reminder.

Bargain bumble bees!

75% off sale! Bumble Bees of North America: An Identification Guide on sale for just $6.24 

Princeton University Press is having one of its 75% off select titles with promo code sales, and it includes Bumblebees of North America by Williams et al. 2014 for just $6.24+shipping (Promo code: FEB75, for orders shipping within the US, Canada, Latin America, Asia, and Australia). Act fast – the sale is only on until Feb 14. Click HERE to order. (Ed. note: I’m ordering 2 of them so I can tear them up and make species cheat sheets. It’s cheaper than paying for color printing of the pdf!)

Another wildflower locator website

If iNaturalist isn’t enough for you, check out Adam Schneider’s baby, Pacific Northwest Wildflowers, a pretty slick guide to wildflower records and current bloom status for Washington, Oregon, and northern California. You do have to spell your flower’s scientific name properly. Ask me how I know. Find it HERE.

Leave us a comment or start a discussion below

January 2023

Happy Knee Year!?

Head’s up everyone! If you need some info and Jen Larsen has been your go-to person for this, note that she will be out of the office for a knee replacement for a couple of weeks in mid-January, returning around the 23rd. Even when she returns, expect her to take a few days to dig out before contacting her for anything non-essential. In the meantime, and even after, use the new contact email — mastermelittologist@oregonstate.edu — for all but determination questions. Those go to oregonbeeatlas@gmail.com .

If you have any feedback or submission for Field Notes or if you want to post notes for your regional team contact Ellen Silva (e.silva@comcast.net).

In this issue

Field Notes

Mark Gorman and Ellen Silva tested the Journey Level Bee ID test — and not only did the test pass, they did, too. Watch for an announcement as to when the test is available to others interested in pursuing the Journey Level Melittologiist certificate.

Tiny talks on tools of the trade needed!

Last year’s conference presentations of tips and tools of the trade was a big hit, so let’s do it again, bigger and better. Please be a part of it!

How can you help? Give us ideas for presentations you’d like to see, or volunteer to do a presentation using your own idea or one of ours.

The presentations are short and sweet, just 2 to 8 minutes. They can be given in person or virtually. And we’ll provide one-on-one help with PowerPoint or even create your presentation for you. All you need is an idea, or a willingness to develop one of our ideas into a tiny talk.

Here are some of our ideas – would you be willing to develop a tiny talk around one of them? Or better yet, share one of your own?

  • Your learning journey – how did you go from rank beginner to capable Melittologist?

  • Your favorite outreach activities for kids – a survey of kids’ faves perhaps, or a detailed tutorial on executing one or more activities?

  • Cutting labels efficiently — without losing any.

  • Adaptive approaches for pinning and gluing with arthritic, shaky hands

  • Your approach to engaging and influencing others to help with pollinator health – especially when the subjects get tricky, like advocating for no pesticide use.

  • Picnic table pinning tips and tricks

  • Re-writing a key to make it more easily followed

  • Your favorite fast camping meals and campsite hacks so you can get back to the bees.

  • The well-packed melittologist’s day pack.

  • …your idea here!

Last year’s Tips and Tools of the Trade Workshop covered the gamut. Your idea will fit in just great!

OBA announcements

out of state mentor session for january cancelled!

Unavoidable circumstances mean the session in January is cancelled. See you in February!

new email for your program questions

Effective immediately, you can use the email Mastermelittologist@oregonstate.edu to contact the OBA staff. It will get routed to the proper person to help you out. (While Jen is out, that’s likely to be Andony, who is a very busy guy. Your patience will be much appreciated.)

Don’t forget that you can always email the advisory panel with your thoughts, concerns, and creative ideas by using the email atlas_advisory@lists.oregonstate.edu which copies the entire panel plus staff with your comments.

2022 location labels no longer sent automatically

We have come to the point in the year when new location label requests have slowed to a trickle, so we’re not automatically sending them for the rest of this season. If you have some last minute location label needs, please contact Leah directly. She’s at oregonbeeatlas@gmail.com.

Catch a Buzz

Catch a Buzz is the first TUESDAY of every month at 7pm. To join, go to https://oregonstate.zoom.us/j/97230252365?pwd=TURyTXNMZ1M5SHl2TFQvajBxemtRdz09 | Password: bees

Don’t miss February’s session - it will include a presentation by Tom Ebert on using details of wing venation to help with identification.

Annual OBA Conference: sunday, March 5

As before, the conference will be in Corvallis and includes a great keynote speaker, Sandy DeBano (Oregon State University). Sandy’s research focus on how human activities affect invertebrate communities. She’s right at the intersection of agriculture and conservation and should be a fascinating speaker. Register by clicking HERE and filling out the form - it’s free to OBA members and students!

See the recent email from Jen Larsen for all the details.

Parataxonomists still needed

Lincoln is recruiting parataxonomists to assist with sorting, curation, and identification of Oregon Bee Atlas specimens. It would be ideal if volunteers were local and could dedicate a few consecutive days in the lab during January and February. Parataxonomists should be confident at identifying bees to the generic level and beyond. Depending on the individual, it may be possible to work remotely. Please contact Lincoln directly by email: Lincoln.best@oregonstate.edu using the subject line “Parataxonomist”.

Mariposa preserve survey volunteers needed

In collaboration with the Understory Initiative located in Ashland, OR, the Oregon Bee Atlas (OBA) will be recruiting surveyors for proposed once monthly sampling at Mariposa Preserve in spring 2023 (April-June). Mariposa Preserve is located on the California border south of Ashland and is within the boundary of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. Volunteers should be proficient samplers that have produced a minimum of 250 specimens for the OBA. Details of the event timing will be forthcoming in late January, but keep in mind that sampling will be weather dependent. To express your interest, please email Lincoln (Lincoln.best@oregonstate.edu) with the subject line “Mariposa Preserve”. No other details are available at this time.

Calendar

Watch the calendar for added or changed events - as the winter proceeds, there could be cancellations, and there WILL be more events!

Team news

If you want to include your own team’s news in the Roundup, send it to Ellen Silva (e.silva@comcast.net) the Monday before we publish (typically, the 1st and 3d Monday of the month).

PDX

The Portland team is planning to hold a microscope day at the Portland Community College Rock Creek Campus on January 21st. Watch for the reminder email with all the details which will come out about a week before each event. If you don’t already receive the reminder emails and would like to be on the list, contact Ellen Silva at e.silva@comcast.net.

Don’t forget there are some helpful reference sets available for Portland area folks - email Ellen Silva at e.silva@comcast.net to learn more.

cool stuff we have found (L. Best)

Another great discovery for the bee atlas. This time it is coming from Dr. Briana Lindh's lab at Willamette University in Salem. They have been dutifully DNA barcoding our Melissodes specimens using a bench top method, and a funny looking group turned out to be another new genus for the state of Oregon!

The newly recorded bee genus is only known from the Willamette Valley in Oregon from our data which is a surprise. There are new bees right under ours noses at all times.

The species keys out to Tetraloniella pomonae, but our specimens are far darker than the closest individuals in the central valley of California. Time will tell. The closest record for the genus is very far away.

Of course, in Dorchin 2018, the North American clade of Tetraloniella was found to be paraphyletic with the old world group of Tetraloniella and Tetralonia, and so all NA species are now lumped into the genus Xenoglossodes which itself awaits further revision and classification. Fun!

Congrats to those at WU for their hard work on a tough group of bees, and congrats to the two groups that caught these bees: Michael O'Loughlin and Dan O’Loughlin in Yamhill, and Jerry Paul, Ellen Watrous, and Susan Walters who all found some together at the Trailhead to Chip Ross Park in Corvallis.

Xenoglossodes is a real beauty and maybe a tarweed specialist in our area.

Dorchin 2018 and LaBerge 2001 should be in the taxonomic resources folder.

Tetraloniella sp. (photo ©Valterra under license CC-BY-NC-ND)

miscellany (not to be missed)

Catch a Buzz Summary (By Ellen Silva this month, hence you will appreciate Martha Richards all the more)

License Plate– The pollinator plate is “days away” from being ready for pre-sale. I suspect you will be able to hear Sarah shout with joy when the final go-ahead comes through.

What do melittologists do in the winter? Identify bees. Apply for permit renewals. Andony is on it, more info next month.

Someone grab a bucket of water, Lincoln is on fire! I couldn’t keep up with the taxonomy update, there was so much good stuff in it. Coolest thing was the finding of a new genus for the state, Xenoglossodes, see the details above. But also pretty dang cool is that Linc hopes to have a big data release in March covering 2020 bees, along with some 2021 bees and updates on 2018-2019 bees. So many bees! It’s the biggest one yet. He is also shooting to have the detailed report cards for 2020 collections out on the same schedule.

An OBA t-shirt for every day of the week can now be yours. It’s very helpful to have a “uniform” when collecting in areas where you will see the public and have to explain what you are up to. Plus it’s fun to let people know that you are keen on bees. Andony has redesigned the original OBA t-shirt so that it clearly states that the wearer is a volunteer and TRAINED! Find the shirts on the Bonfire site by clicking HERE. They are priced at cost; the goal is to allow everyone to buy the right size and as many as they need. Several colors are available!

BeE stewardly!

The Oregon Bee Project Strategic Plan includes the goal to enhance bee habitat across the state. To fulfill this goal, Oregon State University Extension has created the Bee Steward Program. The program offers two levels - Advocate and Land Manager. A Bee Advocate supports the Oregon Bee Project by providing high quality training and education to the public on the state's bee biodiversity and steps they can take to keep Oregon bee friendly. Becoming a Bee Advocate is simple and involves watching a 40 min training video and taking a quiz to test your knowledge. Upon completing the training you have access to outreach materials from the Oregon Bee Project. If you own land that you’d like to manage for bee stewardship, there is more extensive training. Click HERE to learn more.

(We know you are all bee advocates! This training covers both native and honey bees and offers an excellent review of federal and state protections for bees, so worth the watch for all of us. And it’s a perfect place to point those folks you meet while out collecting or at an outreach event who want to learn more.)

Leave us a comment or start a discussion below

December 2022

if The advisory panel advises the staff, who advises the advisory panel?

YOU DO!

As you read about the doings of the OBA-at-large, do you have thoughts on what we could be doing better, ideas for new activities or approaches or, heck, things that you love that you hope we keep doing or do even more of? The Advisory Panel welcomes your feedback, and you can reach the entire panel at once by emailing your thoughts to atlas_advisory@lists.oregonstate.edu or simply by clicking THIS LINK.

If you have any feedback or submission for Field Notes or if you want to post notes for your regional team contact Ellen Silva (e.silva@comcast.net).

In this issue

Field Notes

Steve Gomes achieved Master level in the Master Beekeeper program! Congratulations to Steve! He is seen here with Professor Ramesh Sigili of the OSU Honey Bee Lab, along with our own Andony Melathopoulos and Jen Larsen.

Three addictions in one

Coffee, alcohol, and… bees?

Bees aren’t technically addictive, though we OBA’ers may disagree. Regardless, we can all agree that it’s great that Straightaway Cocktails is an OBA supporter. They recently launched Accomponi coffee liqueur and Nitro Espresso Martini made with meadowfoam honey; appropriately, a portion of the proceeds from each sale will be donated to the Oregon Bee Project. THANKS, Straightaway! (ed. note: I went down to the tasting room and tried the liqueur. Boy howdy, it was good. I had to buy a bottle as a gift for my husband. Yep, that’s my story.)

OBA announcements

Catch a Buzz

Catch a Buzz is the first TUESDAY of every month at 7pm. To join, go to https://oregonstate.zoom.us/j/97230252365?pwd=TURyTXNMZ1M5SHl2TFQvajBxemtRdz09 | Password: bees

HOLD THE DATE!

It’s official - the annual OBA conference will be held in Corvallis on Sunday, March 5, one day after BEEVent. BEEVent registration starts in February; registration for the OBA conference is starts NOW.

Date/Time: March 5, 2023 from 9am-4:30pm (check-in starts at 8am)

Register by clicking HERE and filling out the form - it’s free to OBA members and students!

See the recent email from Jen Larsen for all the details.

Paranormal? NO - Parataxonomist!!!

Lincoln is recruiting parataxonomists to assist with sorting, curation, and identification of Oregon Bee Atlas specimens. It would be ideal if volunteers were local and could dedicate a few consecutive days in the lab during January and February. Parataxonomists should be confident at identifying bees to the generic level and beyond. Depending on the individual, it may be possible to work remotely. Please contact Lincoln directly by email: Lincoln.best@oregonstate.edu using the subject line “Parataxonomist”.

Road trip!!!

In collaboration with the Understory Initiative located in Ashland, OR, the Oregon Bee Atlas (OBA) will be recruiting surveyors for proposed once monthly sampling at Mariposa Preserve in spring 2023 (April-June). Mariposa Preserve is located on the California border south of Ashland and is within the boundary of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. Volunteers should be proficient samplers that have produced a minimum of 250 specimens for the OBA. Details of the event timing will be forthcoming in late January, but keep in mind that sampling will be weather dependent. To express your interest, please email Lincoln (Lincoln.best@oregonstate.edu) with the subject line “Mariposa Preserve”. No other details are available at this time.

How has the determination label process changed this year?

Here is a quick summary. Please watch Module 6 for all the details (we’re talking to everyone, no matter how experienced).

  • As in prior years, a location label (generated by the lab staff from your iNaturalist record) is required on every bee turned in.

  • As in prior years, determination of genus and/or species of your bees is completely optional, though encouraged.

    • If you determine genus and/or species of any of your bees, use one of the two methods outlined in Canvas Module 6 to digitally log those determinations. 

  • In a change from prior years, adding a determination label to your bees is completely optional.

  • If you wish to have a determination labels on your bees, you have several choices for obtaining labels.

    • Prepare your own label document and print your own on acid-free cardstock — See the determinations page and Module 6 on Canvas for resources and instructions.

    • Request an electronic document with labels prepared with your name already included and print yourself on acid-free cardstock. There are two options for this document.

      • Option A: “Blank" template — Includes gender symbol, your  name, and the year. You must write in genus (and species, if known) yourself.

      • Option B: Genus template — Includes gender symbol, your name and the year, and includes 2 labels (one female/one male) for each of the Oregon bee genera with genus printed. You must write in any species identifications yourself. A number of blank labels for both sexes are included.

    • Request a pre-printed sheet of labels, choosing Option A or B above, or both.

  • Note that the lab will no longer print labels with species names.

If you do add determination labels, please follow the guidance in Module 6, part 3 for bee arrangement in your boxes.

Calendar

Watch the calendar for added or changed events - as the winter proceeds, there could be cancellations, and there WILL be more events!

Team news

If you want to include your own team’s news in the Roundup, send it to Ellen Silva (e.silva@comcast.net) the Monday before we publish (typically, the 1st and 3d Monday of the month).

PDX

The Portland team will continue to hold microscope days at the Portland Community College Rock Creek Campus. Watch the OBA Calendar for dates and cancellations. We do try to get a reminder email out about a week before each event. If you don’t already receive the reminder emails and would like to be on the list, contact Ellen Silva at e.silva@comcast.net.

A recent Portland team scope day - all are welcome, whether you are from the PDX metro area or not. Scopes provided, but extra lighting is very helpful.

cool stuff we have found

In a very exciting discovery, Noelle Landauer has collected wild Nomia melanderi, a matched pair of male and female found in the Klamath area! Per Linc: “Almost no wild populations of Nomia melanderi are known and the USDA are actively searching for them. The concern is that the genetic diversity within managed colonies used for alfalfa pollination is declining and with no known wild populations to draw from, it puts their health at risk.” Kelsey Graham of the USDA will likely visit the site, and we will plan an outing to look for the nesting area and to collect specimens for population genetics analysis by Jonathan Koch USDA.

Nomia melanderi (collected and photographed by Noelle Landauer)

As mentioned last month at Catch a Buzz

At last month’s Catch a Buzz, Linc reported on the exciting find of Micralictoides ruficaudus, the second documented genus from the subfamily Rophitinae (family: Halictidae) for our state. (Bonus points if you can you name the other one*.) Judi Maxwell, Sayaka Lean, and Phylis MacIntosh found several specimens of this California poppy specialist in SW Oregon. Given that Cal poppy only produces pollen, where do these small red-abdomened bees get their nectar? Watch for Linc to mount a scouting expedition next spring, hoping to find the answer. In the meantime, in Judi’s words, here is the story of the initial discovery.

As with all of the exciting bees collected in southwest Oregon, we are clueless about their rarity until we get one of those thrilling emails from Linc. The bees were collected at Rough and Ready Botanical Wayside, 4.5 miles south of Cave Junction on the Redwood Highway. This area is listed as one of 200 of the most important sites worldwide for observing the evolution of unique and rare species in response to harsh and unusual conditions.

Here the engine of the biological diversity is the serpentine soils. Such areas are desert like inspite of receiving as much as 100 to 165 cm of rain a year. The fact that the bees were collected on California poppies adds to their mystique because the flowers provide pollen but no nectar. Are we to assume that their progeny don’t need nectar or does the female collect nectar from another species yet to be recognized?

You will find a lot of information on the Rough and Ready Botanical Area on the web. It is managed jointly by the USFS and the BLM. I hope this whets the appetite of OBA members to visit this area in May. I would love to go field tripping with those intrepid enough to wander this far south.

*Dufourea. But you knew that, didn’t you?!

miscellany (not to be missed)

Catch a Buzz Summary (Martha Richards)

Awards – The awards committee, led by Bonnie Shoffner (who's also on the advisory committee), has created a new standard for awards. Annual awards, given out at our conference in March, will be based on nominations and other mentions. Categories include awards for exemplary service, milestones, outreach achievements, and finding rare bees. There will also soon be a kudos form available so that we can acknowledge and thank our fellow melittologists for helpful or meaningful acts done throughout the year.

Determination Labels – Module 6 has a 5-star rating on Rotten Tomatoes and everyone is talking about it. Don't be left out -- watch it! Unlike those movies that leave you with questions, this one answers everything you need to know about documenting your bee determinations.

License Plate and Excellent Holiday Gift T-Shirt – The pollinator plate is making its way through the wheels of progress. When vouchers are available for pre-sale (possibly in a few weeks), OBA staff will let everyone know. While you're waiting, consider buying a T-shirt to get the word out about the license plate: www.bonfire.com/oregon-bee-plate/ . It's a great conversation starter, excellent fashion statement, and a perfect gift for those people who have everything.

David Jenning's bee foray in the Owyhees, September 2022 – David regaled us with an amazing account of his recent trip to the far southeastern corner of Oregon where he targeted sagebrush areas. He showed videos of wild horses, photos of scorpions glowing under blacklights, gorgeous sunsets, amazing geography, and a tent on the top of his car (because scorpions). He went with a friend in September, so blooming plants were limited to areas near water, but they had a great adventure, found bees from approximately 11 genera, and made us all wish that we had been there with them. This episode of CAB will be posted to Canvas soon, so watch for it and then watch it to see David’s wonderful presentation.

Lessons for next time:

  1. Use iNaturalist to figure out what's in bloom and when. If you're not sure how to do that, make some popcorn and watch Module 5. It's almost as entertaining as Module 6. Almost.

  2. Roads in this area are pretty good when dry but quickly get treacherously slippery when wet. Plan accordingly. Roads also peter out and become impassible. (Ed. note: the roads didn’t look pretty good to me in some places! Do your research before taking off.)

  3. It's a really remote area; David said that it would have been good to have at least two vehicles for safety.

  4. It gets really windy there!

  5. Leslie Gulch and Succor Creek Natural Area are both easily accessible on good roads if it hasn't rained recently. The road to Birch Creek has some rough spots and needs a higher-clearance vehicle. Wadatika Wetlands seemed like it might be a promising place to visit at a different time of year.

  6. Scorpions luminesce under a blacklight flashlight. Keep your tent zipped up. And check your boots in the morning.

If you go on a bee adventure, take lots of photos and videos! You, too can be a featured presenter on Catch a Buzz.

David also said that he's planning another adventure next spring. If you are interested in coordinating with him, drop him an email at pnwnativebees@gmail.com.

eat more pancakes!

Buckwheat pancakes, that is. In the Netherlands, researchers have found that approximately half the pollinators in a field of buckwheat are wild species. We find plenty of interesting bees on wild buckwheats (Eriogonum spp.), so that’s no surprise. In Oregon, buckwheat makes and excellent cover crop - let it bloom and then cut it down to feed the bees and your soil. Read more about the Dutch research HERE.

Diadasian melodies

While reading about Diadasia spp. recently in a woeful attempt to get some specimens to species, I allowed myself to be distracted by a song, the song of the breeding Diadasia rinconis. Who knew bees could sing? Now you do. Check out the original paper HERE and the audio/video recording HERE (the song really gets going about 1:15 into the video - amazing detail of the interaction!)

There is a wide range of shirts and hoodies you can get your fellow bee enthusiasts for Christmas. This includes a new design by our very own Marek Stanon featuring the new bee plate. You can order at the Bonfire website.

Leave us a comment or start a discussion below

November 2022

As bee ID season gets into full swing, I’m reminded how fun it is to learn. At least that is what I keep telling myself as I stumble onto yet another taxonomic term that I have to look up. I hope you, too, are all enjoying learning new bee-related things as you do outreach, peruse iNaturalist records, or work on identifying your specimens. Check the calendar and watch for Jen’s emails for more opportunities to do so.

If you have any feedback or submission for Field Notes or if you want to post notes for your regional team contact Ellen Silva (e.silva@comcast.net). Please try and get your submissions in the Monday before publication.

In this issue

Field Notes

tool time with the portland team

The PDX team has been having small turnouts at their microscope days thus far (see below for more info on how you can participate), but that doesn’t mean that a lot of learning and sharing isn’t happening. Here is an assortment of identification tools in use at the last event.

Mike Bogar has converted his key to a flow chart — no page flipping!

Mark Gorman has sliced and diced an e-version of Bumblebees of North America to create a concise reference for color morphs of the Oregon species. And it’s laminated!

Bruce Adams uses fiber optics to put the light EXACTLY where he wants it!

Learn About a National Approach to Monitoring Native Bee Populations

The Native Bee Monitoring Network is meeting regularly to develop a broad strategy for conducting wild bee monitoring on a national scale. The workshop presentations have been archived on YouTube, including a session on the Oregon Bee Atlas. But you can also sign up to participate in future workshops. Share your experience as a melittologist who is actively contribute to a state initiative.

Check out the other workshops on their site, including a link to the Bee Short Course for Community Scientists of the OSU Bee Lab (the OTHER OSU - Ohio State. (I know some of you are saying that I’ll get in trouble for not saying THE Ohio State University, but I’m an alum so they’d rather ask me for donations than chastise me for improper trademark use.))

Improved Pollinator Seed Mix Packets Available

Andony has tapped his connections and the most current pollinator seed selection science to bring us a new seed mix tailored for the Willamette Valley. Packets are available for hand outs at outreach event; contact Jen to request some.

New! And Improved! And available for your public outreach events and your own backyard! Read more about the science of this mix HERE.

OBA announcements

Catch a Buzz

Catch a Buzz is November 1 at 7pm. To join, go to https://oregonstate.zoom.us/j/97230252365?pwd=TURyTXNMZ1M5SHl2TFQvajBxemtRdz09 | Password: bees

Next month, Catch a Buzz will be December 6th - add it to your personal calendar now!


The New Module is Here! The New Module is Here!

Yes - Module 6 now has been updated and completed. Those of you who are working on identifying your bees will appreciate the video on reporting your determinations, and even if you aren’t taking your bees to genus or species ID, the video on curation is valuable for anyone turning in a collection. Check it out on Canvas. Remember, following the guidelines in these videos makes our data more accurate while it also reduces the workload on staff, so please review the new content soon.


The date for the annual conference has been set: March 5, 2023. More info to come!

Supply and Presentation Requests Welcome

Do you need a spare box or two for sorting? You can request more supplies by using this form or by contacting Jen via email.

Don’t forget that there are a number of excellent presentations already prepared for our outreach use. Check in with staff to see what’s available for use and adaptation in your events.

Calendar

Catch a Buzz happens the first Tuesday now - that’s the first day of the month for November! Watch for microscope days in various locations around the state.

Team news

If you want to include your own team’s news in the Roundup, send it to Ellen Silva (e.silva@comcast.net) the Monday before we publish (typically, the 1st week of the month).

PDX

Focus, focus, focus.

We are now holding semi-regular microscope days at the Portland Community College Rock Creek Campus. RSVP’s are necessary so we know how many experienced members to have on hand to help. Details come out in reminders the week before the event. If aren’t already receiving email announcemetns about these but you’d like too, please contact Ellen Silva.

Currently scheduled dates:

  • November 12, 19

  • December 10, 17

Cool stuff WE have found

The list of intriguing discoveries that OBA volunteers have documented grows ever longer. We’ll feature one here each issue, at least until the flowers return and “What’s In Bloom” returns to this space.

Melissodes sp. collected by Mike Bogar

Searching for bees late in the season paid of for Mike Bogar when he caught this Melissodes in the Bend area on October 10. He couldn’t quite get it to key out to the proper genus, though, because it only had 2 submarginal cells (SMC), and Melissodes have 3 SMC’s. But take a close look at the cells on this bee: the left wing SM cells aren’t even properly closed, hinting at a wing vein deformation. On the right wing, there is a nubbin of a vein right where the missing division would need to be.

Spotting oddities like this is an important part of what we contribute to the science of melittology. Keep up the good work, team!

miscellany (not to be missed)

Catch a Buzz Summary (Martha Richards) - October AND November editions!

NOVEMBER

Microscope Trainings: There are multiple microscope trainings coming up this month, so remember to check the calendar on Canvas and RSVP to an event near you. Bonnie Zand will be leading an online training on November 12th where she will have a camera on her microscope and will be able to move bees around and take questions about what people are seeing. Andony and Linc both heartily endorsed Bonnie's online trainings and being very helpful and informative, so if you don't live close to an in-person training, this is an excellent option.

Determinations: Andony has updated Canvas to include a page with the process for bee determinations. This page also includes a link to the long-awaited Module 6, which provides more details about the determination process. If you want to print your own determination labels, this page includes a file to make that easier. This is also where you will find the downloadable Excel file for entering your bee determinations.

OBA Conference: The 2023 OBA Conference will be held on Sunday, March 5th at OSU. The keynote speaker will be Sandy DeBano, who has done extensive studies on sampling and who has the largest collection of bees in the northeastern part of the state.

Journey Level: The OBA staff are developing the tests for the OBA Journey level with an expected launch date of January 1st. One test will be a series of questions about Solitary Bees by Danforth, so Sara plans to host a study group to discuss the book and explain details that may be unclear. This test will be online and people will have ample time to consider the questions and provide detailed answers. The other test will require identifying ten bumblebees to the species level and 20 bees to the generic level. This test will be in-person, with locations and schedules to be determined.

Linc's Update

Funding is in place for DNA barcoding of approximately 2,000 bees, so Linc and his team have been busy preparing those samples. The focus will be on solitary bees of the sagebrush biome.

Big Bumblebee Ecology News: Linc and USFWS staff found and unearthed a Bombus occidentalis nest in October. B. occidentalis (aka the Western Bumblebee) is a species under consideration for listing due to its declining population, and the Xerces Society and USFWS had been looking for nests on Mount Hood this summer, but without success. Linc directed the group to a different site where they quickly spotted a worker go into a hole in the ground. Once they found the location of the nest, USFWS staff returned a few times to observe activity around the nest and decided to excavate it in October -- after the hive had produced its new queens but before predators moved in to eat the nest remains. They collected the nest as well as associated materials and about a dozen worker bees, and everything is currently in various labs being closely examined and documented. The data they are gathering from this nest will help answer many bumblebee questions - what a find!

Mariposa Reserves: The BLM has a grant for conducting pollinator surveys in Mariposa Reserves, a BLM property near the California border just west of I-5. Linc is planning to offer survey work up to some dedicated OBA members - maybe even you? Watch for more information to come.

License Plate: The bee license plate is almost ready for pre-sales! We will need to pre-sell 3,000 plates before the State will start manufacturing the plates. As soon as the last few details are ironed out, you can go to this page and obtain a voucher for a plate: https://agsci.oregonstate.edu/home/oregon-pollinator-license-plate-presale. This website also explains the costs, details where the funding will be directed, and introduces Marek Stanton, the plate's artist. Once we sell 3,000 vouchers, plates will go into production. Andony is also preparing paper handouts and tablecloths to publicize the plates at public outreach events and will distribute them once pre-sales have begun.

OCTOBER

Microscope Sessions/Training: It's microscope season and there are multiple microscope sessions in various places, so be sure to keep an eye on the calendar on Canvas. There are also some upcoming lab training sessions in Corvallis where participants will work through the identification couplets with a set of bees -- if you're new to the OBA or just need a bit of a refresher, do sign up. Andony is working with Bonnie Zand to set up a remote training lab for those of you who are far from Corvallis.

Module 6 is not done yet. But it will be done very soon. Andony promised. (Ed. note: He kept his promise. It’s done!!!)

Determination Labels: they're now optional! If you are identifying your bees, you are still required to enter your determination in the Portal (either directly or with the spreadsheet system), but you do not need to put the determination label on the bee if you don't want to do that. Determination labels will be available to those who want them. Remember, identifying your bees is not a requirement, but it is highly recommended as a way to enjoy your bees even more.

Seed Mix: There is a new Grumpbee seed mix coming out. Andony worked with a number of other people and took advantage of some recent studies on pollinator seed mixes to come up with a new and improved mix that's tailored for the Willamette Valley. His coordination found that the key to a successful pollinator mix is to have a good balance between annuals (25%), short-lived perennials (50%) and long-lived perennials (25%), which the new mix has, so it's likely to look good for multiple years.

OBA Annual Conference Date: Sunday March 5th, 2023 at OSU. Mark your calendar!

Thanks to Michael O'Laughlin, the OBA was recently awarded NW Natural's Conservation Champion Catalyst Award, which comes with $10,000!

Melittology quizquillia: What's that, you ask? It's a brand-new feature of the Catch a Buzz meeting, where anyone is welcome to sign up and give a short -- 10 minutes or so -- talk about a monograph or study you've recently read. If you're interested, drop Andony a line. This month's presentation was on Catherine Cumberland's monograph, "Principal Sunflower Bees of North America with an Emphasis on the Southwestern United States" published in California Entomology. It's available in the taxonomy folder, along with other CA Entomology monographs. Give it a read! Andony found out about the article when he and Linc recently attended the 5th workshop of the National Native Bee Monitoring Network.

Taxonomy Update: We have discovered another new genus for the state of Oregon -- Micralictoides! Three OBA members visited the Rough and Ready Botanical Wayside near OR 199 just north of California and each caught one or two of these bees on Eschscholzia californica (California poppy). They're small bees, black with a red abdomen, and they look similar to Dufourea, but have a shorter face. The bees were all M. ruficatus, and Linc plans to mount some expeditions in the vicinity to learn more about the bee's range and where it gets its nectar from, as E. californica produces only pollen and no nectar.

Collecting Updates: There were a number of reports of recent collecting successes off of Ericameria (rabbitbrush) in various parts of the state. Expect to get up to five different species of Colletes and possibly some Triepeolus or Epeolus from rabbitbrush, says Linc. Baccharis pilularis (coyote bush) is also a good late-season nectar source.

License Plates: The new Oregon license plate is very close to getting approved for sale! It's now close enough to being approved that it's okay to start spreading the word. Andony is having some license plate advertisement tablecloths printed for outreach events.

Public Presentations: If you're planning to give a public presentation about the OBA, be aware that the OBA staff have a number of presentations, images, and slides available for your use -- just ask any of the OBA staff members.

The Advisory Committee is made up of a revolving set of OBA members and exists to advise the OBA staff and act as a sounding board for new ideas (thanks for all you do!). There's now a link on Canvas to the inner workings of the committee, including committee member bios, contact information, meeting minutes, and the 2021 Strategic Plan.

OBA featured in Columbia Gorge News

Flora Gibson, writer for the Columbia Gorge News, recently finished a series of four wonderful articles describing our collecting efforts in the Gorge. They are well worth a read, and a great way to share what we are doing with family and friends. See them all HERE.

It’s hard to find a prettier place than the Gorge in early spring.

Leave us a comment or start a discussion below

October 2022

As the leaf turns…

…the pace of the Atlas slows down a bit. The Roundup will be published roughly once a month until spring bee activity heats up again.

Watch for time-sensitive news by email in between issues of the Roundup. Recent emails announced several microscope opportunities around the state — get the details below in the Team News section. Don’t forget Catch A Buzz on TUESDAY, October 4th!

If you have any feedback or submission for Field Notes or if you want to post notes for your regional team contact Ellen Silva (e.silva@comcast.net). Please try and get your submissions in the Monday before publication.

In this issue

Field Notes

Cottonwood canyon campout caps off a categorically crazy cool collection close-out

Crazy cool in the “wow, those are awesome landscapes way”. In a temperature way, it was rather crazy hot, but not too hot for a wonderful group of intrepid bee collectors. Led by Sarah Gardner, the group found Perdita on buckwheat, Lasioglossum on wire lettuce, Anthophora on snakeweed and incredible beauty in the night skies and wide open landscape.

Photos below are courtesy of Rachel Phariss, Ellen Silva, Sarah Gardner,

The landscapes were wide open. Flowers were a bit scarce, but buckwheat was in strong bloom and sunflowers popped up here and there; the rabbitbrush was just getting going.

As always, half the fun was seeing wildlife beyond bees. Of course, the bees were awesome.

thank you, NW naturals!

This just in - NW Naturals has announced winners of their new Conservation Champions award — and the Oregon Bee Atlas is one of them! The three-year award includes an annual cash grant, in-kind resources and multi-level organizational engagement and activation. OBA will receive funding which, according to Andony, will help develop our data into a tool that will help anyone who wants to match the best plants in their region to the bees that live there. Bonneville Environmental Foundation’s “CE – Clean Energy, Bright Futures” program also received an award. Many, many thanks to NW Naturals and to member Michael O’Loughlin who helped bring OBA to their attention. This new award follows up on a previous grant from NW Naturals, also catalyzed through Michael’s efforts. Read the full press release HERE.

OBA announcements

Catch a Buzz is moving!!! Catch it on tuesdays starting in October!

The next Catch a Buzz is Tuesday, October 4 at 7pm. To join, go to https://oregonstate.zoom.us/j/97230252365?pwd=TURyTXNMZ1M5SHl2TFQvajBxemtRdz09 | Password: bees

microscope training and open mic days are here!

MICROSCOPE TRAININGS:

Please RSVP here: https://forms.gle/V5Hu1qsFknXem7ZY7

Microscope training days are workshops run by Master Melittologist Program instructors or staff. These trainings are intended to be a beginner-level introduction to the basic use of microscopes, and a first step in the ID of your bees - it is not a comprehensive training on more advanced topics. We will assist you sort the bees in your collection boxes, and use the genus key that was included in your student manual. A checklist will be provided that you can work through at your own pace, with staff or instructors present to assist. Note: People interested in “Open Mic” sessions may also drop in to the Microscope Trainings and use the scopes to work on your bees.

Location: Agriculture and Life Sciences Building (ALS) on the OSU Corvallis campus in the Horticulture Teaching Lab, basement room 0012 *Alternate locations will be noted*

Parking: No parking passes are required at OSU on the weekends. Parking map: HERE

“OPEN MIC” SESSIONS

No RSVP required

These are drop-in sessions in Corvallis to look through your bees using the OSU microscopes alongside Andony (and maybe Linc). Location: Agriculture and Life Sciences Building (ALS) on the OSU Corvallis campus in the Horticulture Teaching Lab, basement room 0012 *Alternate locations will be noted*. Parking is same as for Microscope Training, see above.

no melittologist left unnamed, or at least un-name-tagged

Have you lost your official name badge? Or do you still have an older version (if you joined before 2020)? It’s easy to get a new one. Just email Jen Larsen and she’ll get you set up.

Calendar

Just a reminder that dates for Microscope Trainings and “Open Mic” sessions are on the calendar (see the Calendar of Events in Canvas and here). There are many dates available through the fall and early winter, arranged to avoid holidays and home football games. 

 People interested in “Open Mic” sessions may also drop in to the Microscope Trainings and use the scopes to work on your bees.

 

Team news

Columbia Gorge

We have picked a new date for the microscope session in Hood River, OR. The session will be on Wednesday, October 5th at the Extension Office in Hood River, OR 4pm-7pm. This will be a time for you to use a microscope to work on getting a species identification for your pinned bees. We will have a taxonomic specialist, Joe Engler with us to help assist us in identification as well as a reference collection that Joe has put together.

RSVP HERE

Contact info: Frances Fischer – frances@gorgefriends.org if you have any questions.

Central Oregon

Heike and Toni have organized a Microscope Training in Central Oregon. See below for their info!

We will have a microscope session with mentor Joe Engler on

Tuesday, October 11       10 am to 3 pm

at the OSU Deschutes County Extension Building

3800 SW Airport Way, Redmond, OR 97756

Bldg. #3, Tel. 541-548-6088

RSVP by clicking HERE.

PDX

We really are getting close to announcing some PDX area microscope days to be held one Saturday a month at Portland Community College, Rock Creek Campus. Watch for an email sometime this month.

If you want to include your own team’s news in the Roundup, send it to Ellen Silva (e.silva@comcast.net) the Monday before we publish (typically, the 1st and 3d Monday of the month).

September is for rabbitbrush - need we say more?

What’s blooming

Combing through iNaturalist over the last week, we note our volunteers have come across some great plants on the hit list or have found bees in areas of special interest. You should be able to revisit these sites. Remember to check the permit requirements for these sites in Canvas.

Green Rabbitbrush (Ericameria teretifolia) - Rick Williams, Bend (Sept 27)

Rubber Rabbitbrush (Ericameria nauseosa) - Shawn Steinmetz, Union County (Sept 24)

Gumplants (Genus Grindelia) - Jeff & Michaela Warneking, The Dalles (Sept 20)

Please remember to include images of the flower, the leaves, and the entire plant with all your submissions. Only include images of the plants you collect on, not bees.

miscellany (not to be missed)

Catch a Buzz Summary for Sept 7, 2022

(Martha Richards)

  1. Upcoming Events: It's microscope season! After spending the summer catching bees (or desperately hoping to find bees), we now get to try to identify them. There are three September events posted in the calendar: 9/14 (Wednesday) in Hood River, and 9/17 and 9/24 at OSU (in Corvallis). There will be very helpful experts at these events to help you work through the keys and use a microscope effectively. Also, Andony is working on scheduling more OSU microscope days on non-football Saturdays -- watch the calendar.

  2. Module 6 is very, very close to being released. No, seriously. Andony says it's actually coming out soon. Among other things, it will include information about how to record bee IDs on either the portal or the spreadsheet.

Q&A

Q: Does the staff have a preference for whether we enter our bee IDs on the portal vs. the spreadsheet? A: Not at all. There are pros and cons for each. If you enter your IDs in the portal, your determination labels will all be printed out in one single printing -- there's no print-as-you-go option. With the spreadsheet, the determination labels can be printed in separate batches as you work through your bees (within reason - batches should consist of a good number of labels). But spreadsheet users must use Microsoft Excel (the Excel spreadsheet has been specially formatted and other spreadsheet programs have not been tested for compatibility).

Q: If we have entered our bee determinations online (either using the portal or a spreadsheet), what is the point of pinning on determination labels, especially for people who are new to bee taxonomy and whose IDs might be wrong? Won't those incorrect ID labels just get in the way?
A: The hope is that Bee Atlas members will get good enough at bee identification that their determinations will stand -- some people have already gotten to the level where Linc doesn't need to check their work. You will need to get in the practice of adding your determination labels at some point, and now is as good a time as ever. Also, Linc is increasingly relying on student workers to do preliminary determinations and sorting, so our determinations may help them with their work (more than once, Linc has said that we're actually more accurate than we give ourselves credit for). Andony also let slip a secret: he said that even though Linc claims to ignore the labels when he's doing his ID work, Andony has caught Linc sneaking a peak at the labels from time to time.

Q: We have been receiving generalized feedback on the accuracy of our bee identification, but there are specific bees whose identification I want to have confirmed. I would really like to have a spreadsheet listing all of my bees, my determinations, and Linc's (or other expert's) determinations so that I can confirm my IDs or learn from my mistakes. Is that possible?
A: That is something that could be added to the individual reports that we receive. Andony expressed a reservation that OBA data represents a significant amount of staff and volunteer work (and money!), so we need to be careful about releasing the data because we need to be sure that the information is used appropriately and that the OBA, its staff, and volunteers are properly credited. But with that in mind, Andony will discuss with Linc the possibility of adding a bee-by-bee spreadsheet to the individual reports.

Q: When is the next Advisory Committee meeting? A: September 20th. There is a page in Canvas (appropriately titled "Advisory Committee") that lists upcoming meeting information as well as contact information for all Advisory Committee members. Anyone who wants to contact the Advisory Committee can either send an email to the whole group at atlas.advisory@lists.oregonstate.edu or look up an individual and contact them directly by phone or email.

The Advisory Committee is made up of a revolving set of OBA members and exists to advise the OBA staff and act as a sounding board for new ideas (thanks for all you do!). There's now a link on Canvas to the inner workings of the committee, including committee member bios, contact information, meeting minutes, and the 2021 Strategic Plan.

Listen in OBA members Susan Albright (shown), Martha Richards, Carol Yamada, Missy Martin, plus Washington County Master Gardener Ron Spendal in conversation with Andony on Episode 220 of Pollination Podcast. They discuss the joy of sharing information on native bees with the public and share ideas for planning a successful outreach event.

Something’s Bugging Bob

Would you like to earn some service points for looking at pretty pictures of native bees? We’ve been asked to help Robert O’Brien, an avid BugGuide contributor, figure out what he’s been taking photos of by looking through his submissions. If you think you can help, check his photos out under his username, bobobob, by clicking HERE. You’ll need a BugGuide account to make comments, by the way.

Leave us a comment or start a discussion below

September 1, 2022

The last lazy days of summer…

…haven’t been all that lazy! Check out the wonderful outreach work being done around the state, great work by many committed OBA members. Staff members have been catching a breather before the busy fall begins, hence the delay in publication of this issue of the Roundup. Going forward through the fall and winter, expect publication to be semi-regular. We’ll try to get at least one issue out per month, especially when there is timely information to share.

If you have any feedback or submission for Field Notes or if you want to post notes for your regional team contact Ellen Silva (e.silva@comcast.net). Please try and get your submissions in the Monday before publication. Thanks to Bonnie Shoffner for the chonky bee photo in our header this month.

In this issue

Field Notes

A Sweet Bee Exhibition in Klamath Falls

Katharina Devitt, an OBA member and Oregon Master Beekeeper Mentor, reports on the Klamath Falls street fair. What a wonderful bounty of information she shared!

We had our first large bee event at the Klamath Falls Main Library on Wednesday.  It is the annual street fair for families.  Exhibitions are outdoors and indoors.  We get the large indoor exhibition room for our bees.  It is climate controlled which is better for the live observation hive we bring.  As you can see we have devoted a large part to native bees.  It got very busy and we got slammed so I don't have images with children/families running around.  Each child gets a honey stick and we distributed over 300 sticks.

Photos above are courtesy of Katherina Devitt.

Fun and Games at OMSI – reported by Bonnie Shoffner, photos by Bonnie and Rachel Phariss.

We had a great time doing outreach at OMSI yesterday with 155 folks coming to our table (we used a clicker so this data is solid!). We had our 3 intern staff members, Marek S. and his mom, Rachel P., and Bonnie S. We had a pipeline of Bee Education.  Our lovely intern staff caught a few live bees around OMSI and folks looked at the bees then found them in the display case and picked up some information. 

Folks then moved down the table to the What Personality Bee Am I game, voting for the bee like them. Voting results #1 Honey bee, #2 Bumble Bee, #3 Metallic Sweat bee.  Continuing down the table folks played our newest game, Wheel of Bees, with Rachel and Bonnie. They spin the wheel and have to guess the answer to a question about the bee they landed on. We ring the bell -winner and they get a seed packet. We then ask them to find that bee in the 2nd display case.

Marek has done maintenance and care on the display case and added real dried flowers. He talks about the bee in the display case and brought a microscope and showed folks the bee under the microscope which was a big hit. Marek also had a vase of real flowers of different shapes to talk about what bees like and are looking for in flowers. More information handouts are available with Marek including the coloring pages. 

This setup worked great.  Folks loved the microscope, live bees and Wheel of Bees.

Marek Stanton has updated one of the Portland team’s educational display cases with dried flowers and fresh specimens. Nice job, Marek!

OBA announcements

Catch a Buzz

Catch a Buzz is September 7 at 7pm. To join, go to https://oregonstate.zoom.us/j/97230252365?pwd=TURyTXNMZ1M5SHl2TFQvajBxemtRdz09 | Password: bees

Year End Campout

There is still time, just barely, to RSVP for the campout at Cottonwood Canyon, September 2-4. Check the Field Training Events flyer on Canvas for more information.

Calendar

Coming in September and throughout the fall and winter: Saturday Open Microscope Days on the OSU campus in Corvallis. These are really worth attending — they are a chance to work through some of your bees and ID them to genus or even species with support from experts and access to reference bees. Other attendees can give you a hand, and Linc or Andony are around for some or all of the day to help out.

Team news

If you want to include your own team’s news in the Roundup, send it to Ellen Silva (e.silva@comcast.net) the Monday before we publish (typically, the 1st and 3d Monday of the month).

PDX

A low-key but fun outreach event opportunity from Carol Yamada —

Hi! I live in the Stafford Hamlet. We have an annual Family Fest that is a nice family-centered event on a century farm. There will be about 40 vendors/exhibitors that are local makers or community folks like Soil & Water. There’s pumpkins and corn and farm things…and OBA! I’m having a hybrid tent that is about Wild Bees and Pollinator Plants. I’ve done this before and it’s low key. It’s 10-4 and if you’d like to come for some or all of that time to talk bees, that would be great.

Date: September 10 Location: West Linn, Oregon

Send me an email for details. Carolyamada@rocketmail.com

The Portland team is trying to plan some microscope days at PCC (Rock Creek campus). Watch this space for more info!

Velvety Goldenrod (Solidago velutina) - J. Maxwell

What’s blooming

Combing through iNaturalist over the last week, we note our volunteers have come across some great plants on the hit list or have found bees in areas of special interest. You should be able to revisit these sites. Remember to check the permit requirements for these sites in Canvas.

Velvety Goldenrod (Solidago velutina) - Judith Maxwell - Jackson County (August 23)

Oregon Gumplant (Grindelia stricta) - Rebecca Cheek - Boon Slough, OR (August 25)

Pinewoods Horkelia (Horkelia fusca) - Jan Buschman - Sisters, OR (Aug 23)

Please remember to include images of the flower, the leaves, and the entire plant with all your submissions. Only include images of the plants you collect on, not bees.

miscellany (not to be missed)

Bee School is in the books!

And Linc was still smiling at the end of Week 2.

Many thanks to the instructors. Sarah Gardner provided her expertise along with Linc during Week One (Intermediate) and Joe Engler and August Jackson were the assistant teachers extraordinaire during Week Two (Intermediate/Advanced). You all may have gone home exhausted, but so did your students. Exhausted, but happy.



Marek Stanton holds the first actual sample of the soon-to-be-released Pollinator license plate which uses his design. It was a treat that the proofs came in during Bee School and he got to see them right away.

Leave us a comment or start a discussion below

August 4, 2022

And suddenly it’s August…

After a flurry of collecting in July, with field events around the state, we’re now hitting that hot, dry part of the summer where collecting isn’t as productive or fun. But September and rabbitbrush season is coming, and in the meantime there is Bee School to keep many of us (especially Linc!) busy.

If you have any feedback or submission for Field Notes or if you want to post notes for your regional team contact Ellen Silva (e.silva@comcast.net). Please try and get your submissions in the Monday before publication.

In this issue

Field Notes

Full Steens Ahead

August Jackson, with generous and excellent assistance from Lincoln Best, led a wonderful field event on Steens Mountain at the very tail end of July. Here is a photo diary of the event.

Even before arriving at the South Steens Campground, flowers (and bees) were popping up everywhere. This is at the Chickamony Reservoir, now dry, but providing a lunch spot with netting opportunities between bites!

The dramatic change in altitude along the glacier-formed gorges of Steens Mountain creates myriad microclimates, thereby enabling tremendous biodiversity in flowers…and bees!

Collecting was as simple as walking along the road, or perhaps over a patch of remnant snow.

As always, an OBA outing is a chance to see lots more wildlife than bees and flowers. Yes, that is a black widow in the lower right.

Linc and Tanya started their fun ahead of time with a side trip to the Alvord desert where they picked up the trapline left by the O’Loughlin brothers a few weeks earlier. If ever you feel like complaining about having to pin dozens of bees, just think of the poor undergrads who are receiving these ziplock(TM) bags!

Camp was hot by day, cool by night, and lots of fun for the 7 attendees (August and his partner Amy, Linc, and 4 OBA members).

This is the only kind of pin-up poster in which your editor wants to appear.

After leaving the mountain, a new sort of fun — getting a close look at our bees. Heike and Ellen stopped at the historical and very comfortable Hines Pine Mill House Bed & Breakfast, which is owned by our own Shani Hodges and her husband, Roger. If you let Shani know you’d like a microscope in your room, she’ll oblige! She is currently offering OBA members a 205 discount, so maybe you need to get a trip to the SE in yet this fall?

Photos are courtesy of Lincoln Best, Heike Williams, and Ellen Silva.

OBA announcements

Catch a Buzz

Catch a Buzz happens the first Wednesday of the month at 7pm. To join, go to https://oregonstate.zoom.us/j/97230252365?pwd=TURyTXNMZ1M5SHl2TFQvajBxemtRdz09 | Password: bees

Where are the Squash Bees Now?

Participate in a unique opportunity to track a native bee expand its territory! Do this by checking out any patch of squash available to you for the presence of Eucera (Peponapis) pruinosa, that cute little honeybee look-alike responsible for so many pumpkin pies come November. First found in southern Oregon in 2018 by an OBA member, E. pruinosa has been heading north. How fast and how far will it go? We can help answer that question. Check out all the details by clicking HERE.

State Fair Outreach Opportunity - Answer the burning question of whether native bees and pronto pups can co-exist.

The Oregon State Beekeepers Association will have a booth at the Oregon State Fair this year. It would be great if some Master Melittologist participants wanted to volunteers in some time slots, and educate the public about native bees! See below for info and schedule. 

Anyone that has the link can edit the spreadsheet (fill in their own names/contact info). 
Everyone that is on the schedule will receive a letter from Bonnie King explaining the details in advance of the fair.  They get fair passes and free parking, and water bottles are provided. 

Contact Bonnie King, OSBA Chair (Fairs and Exhibits), at bonjking@gmail.com or 503-864-2100 with questions.

Click HERE for SCHEDULE LINK

Supplies getting low? Getting more is an easy ask.

If your busy summer of collecting or doing outreach has you low on pins or post cards, all you have to do is fill out a supply request form and Jen will take care of getting you what you need. For the form, click HERE.

Calendar

Team news

If you want to include your own team’s news in the Roundup, send it to Ellen Silva (e.silva@comcast.net) the Monday before we publish (typically, the 1st and 3d Monday of the month).

PDX

Jan and RB Buschman provided native bee educaton and fun at the recent Washington County Master Gardener Association Open Garden Event at the Portland Community College Rock Creek Campus.

Subalpine Mariposa Lily - Lori Humphreys

What’s blooming

Combing through iNaturalist over the last week, we note our volunteers have come across some great plants on the hit list or have found bees in areas of special interest. You should be able to revisit these sites. Remember to check the permit requirements for these sites in Canvas.

Subalpine Mariposa Lily (Calochortus subalpinus) Lori Humphreys - Oakridge (July 21)

Rubber Rabbitbrush (Ericameria nauseosa) Heike Williams - Harney County (July 29)

Roundleaf Snowberry (Symphoricarpos rotundifolius) - Katharina Davitt - Keno (July 29)

Please remember to include images of the flower, the leaves, and the entire plant with all your submissions. Only include images of the plants you collect on, not bees.

miscellany (not to be missed)

Catch a Buzz Summary (Martha Richards)

The squash bee survey is still going strong, so if you have squash plants growing nearby, check the blossoms early in the morning and report your findings. The squash bee survey is a little different from the OBA survey in that they're tracking the zero data -- those times when someone looked for a squash bee but didn't find one -- as well as the bee sightings. Click HERE for more information.

Remember to keep checking the calendar of events on Canvas! Some events worth noting:

  • Bee school is almost here! It's going to be great!

  • OBA will have a booth at the Oregon State Fair August 26-September 5 and volunteers are needed to staff it. Talk about bees then go check out the livestock. Or fill up on cotton candy and fried food. If you haven't been to the State Fair, it's definitely worth a visit and this is your chance. See additional info in the OBA announcements section of this newsletter.

  • The Cottonwood Canyon campout is September 3rd-4th. It was a great success last year, so chances are good there will be some interesting bees again this year.

  • Bonnie Zand is leading a field training in Kamloops, B.C. August 27th -- rabbitbrush galore! Totally different from Vancouver's flora! Since it's probably a bit of a haul for many folks, she plans to make a weekend of it. There will be a Saturday potluck and more collecting on Sunday. Check the flyer on Canvas for details. (Even though Kamloops is in a whole different country from Oregon, everyone is welcome to participate in this event. Andony noted that in the future, they intend to announce these more distant trainings further in advance to give people more time to plan.)

  • There will be a collection event at Scholls Valley Native Nursery on Monday, August 22nd.

Ellen made us all very envious by reporting on the recent collection event at in the Steens.

The OBA has chalked up yet another new Oregon record: Megachile inimica. It's one of Oregon's three leafcutter bees from the subgenus Sayapis. It was found in Baker County and Linc said that OBA people, particularly the O'Laughlin brothers, have been finding a number of Great Plains bees in that area.

Andony is currently working out the details of how we will be recording our determinations. The process will probably be similar to how things worked last year, but there are still some things that need to be finalized.

Leave us a comment or start a discussion below

July 18, 2022

Wait a minute! How’d it get to be halfway through the summer? Don’t worry; there’s still plenty of bees out there and plenty of farmer’s markets (and don’t forget the State Fair!) at which you can share your native bee knowledge and love. Check the Calendar of Events below, as well as checking your in-box for outreach event possibilities sent from Jen Larsen.

If you have any feedback or submission for Field Notes or if you want to post notes for your regional team contact Ellen Silva (e.silva@comcast.net). Please try and get your submissions in the Monday before publication.

In this issue

Field Notes

Mt. Hood Meadows - an hour from Portland, and a completely different world

The training event at Mt. Hood Meadows, led by Michael O’Loughlin and Dan O’Loughlin, was a delight. Excellent instruction, profuse flowers, and special bees. Dufourea calichortii and Halictus vergitillus are found foraging on the numerous Mariposa lilies at this site. Someday your editor hopes to be able to tell H. virgatellus and H. confusus apart without relying on where they were collected!

Photos: Ellen Silva, Rachel Phariss and Julie Graber. Can you spot the wedding photo shoot?

The view from Table Rock, a Nature Conservancy Preserve where we have permission to collect. Check the permits page on Canvas for information on how to gain access. This site has a locked gate - you will need to get in touch with Mark Gorman before going (contact info on Canvas in permit).

When the search for Franklin’s turns into a master class in native bees and the ecology of the Siskiyou Mountains…

Nearly 100 people — representing governmental agencies, environmental NGO’s, academia, the OBA, and even the general public — showed up for the 2022 search for Bombus franklini. Spoiler alert - Franklin’s bee was not found. But new friends and lots of other bees were, along with incredible scenery and great exercise.

The organization of the event was quite simple. Everyone interested gathers in a parking area above the Mt. Ashland ski area where we were oriented to the day. We then drove to the meadow where Franklin’s bumblebee was last collected in 2006 by Robinn Thorpe. After sanitizing our nets, groups dispersed widely across the mountain. Any bumblebees collected were placed in empty (non-lethal!) vials to observe and then release. Anything looking like a Franklin’s was taken to an expert (Linc being the primary guy!) for positive ID.

Unfortunately, Linc didn’t get to ID any Franklin’s. But he was delighted when OBA’s own Jess Tyler, also of the Center for Biodiversity, captured a Bombus occidentalis. This species has become quite uncommon; it’s great to know that it is hanging on. Jess’s work has specifically supported the survival of this species. It’s quite appropriate that he was the one who found it.

Before and after the hunt, a few of us connected with Linc for some free-form collecting. He led us to some of his favorite spots on Monday. I can still feel the heat coming up through the rock at the top of Table Mountain (they don’t call the flowers that thrive there hot rock penstemons for nothin’!). Cool bees, cool views, and so much information.

Linc continued this master class on Wednesday at an OBA training event at Grizzly Peak Trailhead. I know it is getting boring to read about, but gee, whiz, more gorgeous views, more beautiful flowers, and more natural history knowledge. Thanks, Linc, for sharing your time and talents (and the battery charger and diagnostics!).

The tour of Linc’s favorite sites included a visit to Vesper Meadow, an effort on the part of The Understory Initiative to facilitate restoration and conservation of native species. VM Director Jeanine Moy gave us a tour of their newly acquired tract. They are anxious for OBA members to visit and help them list the bees that are visiting their properties. Contact Jeanine at jeanine@vespermeadow.org to arrange a visit.

OBA announcements

Where are the Squash Bees Now?

Participate in a unique opportunity to track a native bee expand its territory! Do this by checking out any patch of squash available to you for the presence of Eucera (Peponapis) pruinosa, that cute little honeybee look-alike responsible for so many pumpkin pies come November. First found in southern Oregon in 2018 by an OBA member, E. pruinosa has been heading north. How fast and how far will it go? We can help answer that question. Check out all the details by clicking HERE.

State Fair Outreach Opportunity - Answer the burning question of whether native bees and pronto pups go together!

The Oregon State Beekeepers Association will have a booth at the Oregon State Fair this year. It would be great if some Master Melittologist participants wanted to volunteers in some time slots, and educate the public about native bees! See below for info and schedule. 

Anyone that has the link can edit the spreadsheet (fill in their own names/contact info). 
Everyone that is on the schedule will receive a letter from Bonnie King explaining the details in advance of the fair.  They get fair passes and free parking, and water bottles are provided. 

Contact Bonnie King, OSBA Chair (Fairs and Exhibits), at bonjking@gmail.com or 503-864-2100 with questions.

Click HERE for SCHEDULE LINK

Bee School - there are still spots in the Advanced Week…

…but it is filling up fast! Check the email Jen sent June 29 for registration.

Surveying for Franklin’s Bumble Bee

The search for Franklin’s bumble bee continues. This year the event, coordinated by USFW, will be held July 11 – 15 on Mt. Ashland. In addition to surveying for Franklin’s bumble bee and Western bumble bees, lots of networking with PNW bee organizations and experts will take place. Check the email from Jen Larsen (4/20/2022) for further details on how to join in.

Calendar

Great stuff coming up - haven’t you always wanted to go camping at Steens Mountain? Find out more by clicking the links in the calendar below, and check out event flyers on Canvas.

Which reminds me, if you are planning a collection outing and are open to company, please post it to Canvas to let others know.

Team news

If you want to include your own team’s news in the Roundup, send it to Ellen Silva (e.silva@comcast.net) the Monday before we publish (typically, the 1st and 3d Monday of the month).

PDX

Your team organizers are gathering info behind the scenes on how/when we can set up some microscope days this fall. Oh, and how to get together to have some fun, too. (Not that microscope days aren’t a blast, of course.) Watch this space for more info!

IDAHO


The Native Bee Survey of Treasure Valley (Idaho) — a USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant-funded partnership between the College of Idaho, Oregon State University and entomologists Dr. Ron Bitner and Amy Dolan —grew out of informal surveys at Bitner Vineyards. Today, the survey has a mission to identify the native bees pollinating crops in the valley and to share information about them with the public. The Oregon Bee Atlas plays a training role for new bee biologists supporting the survey through our Master Melittologist program; it’s always nice to be associated with good work, eh?

Read more about this survey by clicking HERE.

Alpine Mariposa Lily (with bonus Halictus virgatellus?) - Joe Engler

What’s blooming

Combing through iNaturalist over the last week, we note our volunteers have come across some great plants on the hit list or have found bees in areas of special interest. You should be able to revisit these sites. Remember to check the permit requirements for these sites in Canvas.

Oregon Checkermallow (Sidalcea oregana)- Noelle Landauer - Sisters (July 17)

Musk Monkeyflower (Erythranthe moschata) - (Cryptantha intermedia) - Katherina Davitt - Keno (July 17)

Alpine Mariposa Lily (Calochortus subalpinus) - Joe Engler - Mt. Hood Meadows (July 16)

Please remember to include images of the flower, the leaves, and the entire plant with all your submissions. Only include images of the plants you collect on, not bees.

miscellany (not to be missed)

Catch a Buzz Summary (Martha Richards)

Squash flowers are blooming, which means that it's time to get up early, peek into closed squash blooms, and find out if Peponapis pruinosa has made it to your area. The squash bee survey has been tracking the migration of this bee, and so far they've been found in the Rogue Valley, up the coast as far as Newport, and in the Eugene area. Have they made it to the Klamath Basin? Bend? Further north in the Willamette Valley? Elsewhere? Squash bees feed on all kinds of squash and are often found sleeping in the closed blooms in early morning. They're native to the Southwest but they've been expanding their range as the climate changes. The first Oregon sighting was in 2016. See the above announcement for details on how to participate in the survey.

Remember to check the calendar in Canvas for new postings and last-minute collection opportunities. The Cottonwood Canyon campout is scheduled for September 3-4.

The time to reserve your spot in Bee School is NOW. The intermediate course is full, but the advanced course has some space (as of July 6th).

There are lots of outreach opportunities, including the Oregon State Fair August 26-September 5th. Consider setting aside a day (or afternoon, or however much time you can spare) to staff the booth and talk about bees.

Linc is moving quickly through his bee IDs, in part because of DNA barcoding. So far, he and his students have prepared and submitted samples from 570 bees and have received 380 results. They've got another 270 samples ready to be submitted (probably more by now).  Joe Engler has been working through the results for 190 Lasioglossum bees, sorting out what they are and how to identify them visually. So far, with the DNA assist, Joe and Linc have identified approximately 75 Lasioglossum species.  The DNA of some of the samples was degraded enough that it couldn't be coded; the good news is that the degraded DNA occurred mostly with bees caught in pan traps, where they had been sitting in the soapy water for an unknown amount of time. Bees that had been hand-netted had good DNA so apparently our collection methods are good. How much does it cost to analyze the DNA on a bee? Somewhere around $40-50 per bee. Roughly half of this cost is in the preparation – they photograph the bee, clip a middle leg, keep meticulous records of whose leg is in each vial, then package it all up and send it off – and the other half is the cost of the analysis itself. But that's only the beginning, because there's still the work of analyzing the results.

The next Catch a Buzz is August 3 at 7pm. To join, go to https://oregonstate.zoom.us/j/97230252365?pwd=TURyTXNMZ1M5SHl2TFQvajBxemtRdz09 | Password: bees

Taking a Bee Walk When There Aren’t Any Bees - A How-To from Gretchen Pederson

On a discovery trip to the Sunriver Nature Center two days before the show to see what bees were out and what flowers were in bloom, we discovered very few flowers and only one bee. The walks on the day of the event were going to be a challenge! An off-the-cuff flower walk with few flowers is a bit daunting, but as it turned out, we were both able to find and catch several bees, and that opened the door to many topics. But we came prepared, just in case.

We put together a number of 8.5” x 11” laminated sheets from Bee Basics: An Introduction to Our Native Bees and numerous other sources to have some visual aids. The material from Bee Basics really helped in describing bee anatomy by enlarging a bee sketch into 2 taped-together sheets. Bee nest paintings and composite images of floral parts were also helpful. A handout of how to plan a flower garden was much easier to explain while walking through a garden even if it is not filled with blossoms.

So take it from Gretchen, always bee prepared!

Making us proud, as usual…

Our own fearless leader Andony Melathopoulos was interviewed on OPB Radio’s Think Out Loud program today and talked about the Oregon Bee Project Strategic Plan and the Oregon Bee Atlas. What great exposure for our program!

Click HERE to listen to the interview!

Leave us a comment or start a discussion below