Roundup: May 11, 2019
1. GROUP OUTINGS
The weather has smartened up finally and a number of volunteers are planning “expeditions” to the wilds of Oregon. If you are planning a trip and want others to join you, email Andony by Friday morning and he will include it the blog. Include meeting locations, times and a contact email to facilitate coordination.
This week:
Four Sisters (May 16) - near the Dalles - directions from Hood River) - contact Elaine N Rybak for details (rybak@easystreet.net)
The Yamhill team took a field trip to the OSU Matteson Demonstration Forest this week and surveyed a newly planted forestry site. There will be additional trips to the the Demonstration Forest as well as a paired site in Lane County. Stay tuned for more details.
2. WANT A COVETED T-SHIRT, BADGE OR HAT - COLLECT AND COMPLETE ACTIVITY FORM.
Jen has gotten a lot of questions about how to get a t-shirt, badge or hat. Answer: you get these items as you advance through the Atlas. Here is what you need to do:
T-shirts - after you pin up 50 bees, verify these records in our database, complete your outreach requirement and attend three group activities.
Badge - after you get your t-shirt - reach 200 pinned bees and verified records.
Hat - after you get your badge - reach 500 pinned bees and verified records.
How do we keep track of your attendance at group activities or outreach? We have a Volunteer Activity Form (see link) which has been placed on the Atlas Volunteer Webpage. Anytime you complete a group event or volunteer at an outreach event, just fill out the form and you will be golden. We will send the swag as you reach your milestones - and celebrate your great accomplishment!
4. VERIFY YOUR RECORDS TO GET LABELS - NOW OPEN
If you missed the video in the last blog (linked below) we have the 2019 records received by last Friday (May 10) are now online at the following link (also permanently linked on the volunteer site under the heading Databases and Datasheets). Review the video below and start verifying your records - each week we will use verified records to print identification labels.
NOTE: Michael wrote in and said his records only go to April 20 - fear not, we will catch up for next Friday.
5. SATURDAYS ON THE SCOPES
Back by popular demand (and the persistence of Jerry Paul). Every 4th Saturday of the month the OSU Entomology Lab (Cordley 3058) will be opened up, providing you an opportunity to work together looking and sorting your bees. Doors open at 10am and close at 3pm through the summer. Staff from the Atlas will be on hand to help out. The upcoming dates are May 25, June 22, July 27, August 24, September 28 and October 26.
6. RESOURCES FOR NERDS
The Atlas’ goals is to find Oregon’s cool bees. Certainly. But we also want to find (and develop) all the people who can reveal the mysteries of the bees (ahhem… that means you). To help, we have developed a section of the website called the Nerd-Zone. This is a place to store resources to help everyone go deeper. If you come across a gem of bee natural history or a good description of a technique, let Andony know and he will upload it.
7. YOUR QUESTIONS
Q: I need supplies. Where do I turn?
A: For now, contact Jen (Jen.Holt@oregonstate.edu). We may set up a form if it gets too overwhelming for her. We are aiming at getting stuff to you within two weeks.
Q: Last week you wrote about collecting permits. How long will that take?
A: Its generally a laborious slow process. The staff has not had the capacity to do these for you. We are considering developing a list of the top-10 places our volunteers need permits for (developed with your team leader), but that won’t happen until the fall. So, don’t expect to be collecting on public land that requires a permit anytime soon.
8. THIS WEEK ON FACEBOOK
Participants at last week’s Advance Field Collection course at the Siskiyou Field Institute. Participants had some amazing bloom. Thanks to Linc for leading this course and Jen for juggling the logistics.
Michael O’Loughlin organized a fundraiser for the Atlas. Let your friends know and share the link around on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/426311954592218/?ti=icl Thanks for doing this Michael.
Eastern Oregon is waking up from a long cold winter. Adrienne Smith brought in a good collection of bees from willows located at Haystack Reservoir.
Dan O’Loughlin came up with these genera tags so he can quickly sort our bees into boxes once the labels come. His brother Michael writes ”we have got it down to less than 10 sec to get the genus while we are pinning. It will cut down on how many times we handle the bees”.
Linda Zahl’s trap nest has some occupants. People have asked about getting more blocks. Unfortunately its too late to put new traps out. We have a second set now built out, so we should be able to get blocks out earlier to everyone next year. If you did not get blocks back to us last year, no problem, just re-hang them and get them back to us next September.
A stunning image of a sphecodes bee nectaring on 'Snow in Summer' (Cerastium tomentosum) by the remarkable photo wizard Ed Sullivan from Portland.