1. This week on iNaturalist
We are now up to 24 people joined on the iNaturalist (Regional Teams) project this week. It looks like collectively we caught 181 new bees this past week! But still a lot of people are not using the app or entering data through the iNaturalist website. Let us know if you need more training resources or need someone to visit your site and show you how to enter your records into iNaturalist.
2. Supplies
Supplies are going out on Monday for Bend, North Willamette, the Gorge, Grants Pass and Yamhill (actually, these are already with Michael). The shipment will also include t-shirts!!!! Please note, the t-shirts are pre-shrunk, so if they don't fit, let us know and we will get you another shirt. Items not shipped in this batch (as we wait for new supplies) are ethyl acetate and pinning boxes. I just made a new batch of killing jars - PCC was looking for some and these will be en route soon. How about the rest of you? Need anything? Just send an itemized list to Jen - Jen.Holt@oregonstate.edu.
Also, Rich is carting around a store of pins, nets, nesting blocks - so if he shows up make sure to ask him.
3. Survey Dates (this week)
We would love to include the dates on your group. Please email these to Andony by Saturday each week (Andony.Melathopoulos@oregonstate.edu) and he will include it in the weekly blog.
Lincoln County Bee Collection Team
- Thursday May 3 (10am)
- South Jetty State Park parking lot (directions: From hwy 20/101 intersection, turn left (south); after crossing the big bay bridge, take 1st right; just before winding around back under the bridge and take road to left. Jetty road; go to the very end of road and park by radio tower).
Linn-Benton Bee Collection Team
- Saturday May 5 (11am - 1pm)
- Oak Creek Center for Urban Horticulture, 2750 SW Campus Way, Corvallis (map, entrance to OCCUH is on the east side of SW 35th St., between SW Washington Way and SW Western Blvd)
4. Osmia aglaia cocoons
Jim Cane from the USDA Bee Lab in Logan, UT is retiring. He is repatriating coons of the berry bee, Osmia aglaia that originated from collections in Grants Pass. If anyone would like some cocoons we will be getting them in at OSU this week and can make arrangements to get them to you (only for groups West of the Cascades).
5. Questions from you
Q: We ran into Osmia conifrons this week. I hear its not from here? Where is it from and does it cause problems?
A: These are remarkable non-metallic mason bees that hail from northern Asia and are a cornerstone of Japanese and Korean apple pollination. The bee was brought to the Eastern US in the 1970s to help with apple pollination. A population established at some point around Portland. The extent that this bee has spread through Oregon is unknown and could be a great thing for us to track. The bee flies at the same time and in cavities of the same diameter as our native Osmia lignaria, but I have not seen a study exploring whether the two species compete. Again, this is something the Atlas could address in the future.
Q: I got the nest blocks. I am confused. How do these go up?
A: Andony promises to make an instructional video this week. Here is an image of one the blocks Lincoln Best (our taxonomist) put up in British Columbia. We are shipping a whole lot of these this week and it will include zip straps to attach them to posts or tree branches. n general, point the entrance to the east as we don't want these blocks to overheat. Put them strategically in places where you think there will be a good bee community. They need to come up in early May and they will stay up until September, at which time you take them down and Andony do a loop of the state to gather them all in.
Lincoln Best's cavity nesting bee traps.
Q: I want to add some notes to my collection after the fact. How do I do that in iNaturalist?
A: Notes can be entered into iNaturalist. Go to the website, login and pull up your record. You then hit the ‘edit’ button. From there, you can add notes in the 'Description' field.
6. Oregon Bee Atlas Eye Candy
The Gorge team was up on the Mosier Plateau and found some great little bees!
Stephanie Hazen observing the remarkable camas bloom happening now in the Willamette valley. It certainly would be wonderful to get an inventory of the visitors while the bloom continues into the next week.