May 14-20, 2018
1. THIS WEEK IN PICTURES
Michael O'Loughlin (Yamhill Co) encountered these fuzzy cocoons from a Master Gardener's window sill. Extension agent Heather Stoven hatched them out and found them to be the wool carder bee, Anthidium manicatum. A. manicatum should start flying in about a month.
Stephanie Hazen (North Willamette Survey Team) got these terrific images of our yellow-headed bumble bee (Bombus vosnesenskii) on Oregon columbine. The images were from Heritage Seedlings Farms in Salem, which is also a Oregon Bee Project Flagship Farm.
The Gorge Collection Team's urban sample location; the magnificent and interactive DIG Master Gardener's public garden on the bank of the Columbia in the Dalles.
This is the life; Yamhill County Collection Team kicking back with some wine and some taxonomic keys.
Steve Gomes has been noticing more people are contacting beekeepers to move bumble bee nests this past week. Tagging the location of these colonies and digging them up after they have completed their reproduction is a great way to get some display nests for your public outreach events.
2. WHAT WAS COLLECTED THIS WEEK?
I (Andony) am on the road this weekend, so I cannot easily pull up the iNaturalist records. Thank you to everyone who sent in team records this week - we will get to work on producing the first round of labels to you.
3. SURVEY DATES (THIS WEEK)
Yamhill Collection Team
- Tuesday May 22
- Site 2 17701 SW Gopher Valley Rd, Sheridan, OR 97378
- Contact Jeanie Taylor - jeanie@fastmail.com
Bend Collection Team
- Thursday May 24, 8:45 am to noon
- Old Mill, Bend, meet at Dogpark
- Confirm with Toni toni.stephan@oregonstate.edu.
Klamath Falls Collection Team
- Friday May 25 1-4pm
- Pinning day
- Contact nicole.sanchez@oregonstate.edu
Benton Co Collection Team
- Saturday May 26
- Link to map of Oak Creek Center for Urban Horticulture (OCCUH). Entrance to OCCUH is on the east side of SW 35th St., between SW Washington Way and SW Western Blvd
- Andony will be there
- Contact Jerry Paul - jlpaul2006@msn.com
To have your collection event listed either email Andony a list of your events moving forward, or send him your week's activity the Saturday before the week of your event.
4. YOUR QUESTIONS:
Q: After taking my bees out of the kill jar and just setting them in the collection for a few days before pinning they become so dry they break in half while pinning. What is the proper method to rehydrate dry bees?
A: First, we have had a few emails about bees becoming brittle. Best practice is to pin your bees as soon as possible. Andony likes to keep bees in ethyl acetate for at least few hours before pinning and Sarah likes to make sure bees are frozen at least overnight. But you can rehydrate (although its is a slight pain) using what is known as a 'relaxing chamber'. Here are instructions for making a relaxing chamber. Dave Gordon does something simpler with a petri dish and some moist filter paper and Linc Best uses Tupperware with moist towel. You should try doing it overnight. If you leave it too long the bees will get moldy. Best to pin in the evening after collection or freeze the bees until you are ready to pin.
Q: I heard there was a website with information for Atlas volunteers. Where is it? How do I access it?
A: Yes, there is and contains keys, the training manual, training videos and past blogs. You can access the website here. The volunteer-only section is password protected and the password is: 'bumblebee'.
Q: I wish I could remember my collector id. Could you post it somewhere where I can see it.
A: Thanks for this suggestion. Here is a list of participants, the team we have you listed with and your collector code. Contact us if your name is not on the list or if you don't have a sample id and are actively working: