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.