A Citizen Science Project Exploring Bee Biodiversity in Northern Colorado
Native Bee Watch Newsletter #1
Welcome to the Native Bee Watch Newsletter! This biweekly newsletter will provide the current buzz on bee monitoring, tips for best practice observing, the Bee and Plant of the Week, and other fun, educational resources. Enjoy! 
Citizen Scientist Session  
Tuesday, June 7th
We are looking forward to observing bees again this Tuesday from 9am-11am. Please remember to wear a sun hat and sunscreen, and to bring a water bottle to your observation site. It got pretty hot at our last session, and it's only going to get hotter! Do what you need to do to keep yourself cool!

Schedule

Gardens at Spring Creek
  • Lauri Robins
  • Lori Nitzel
Nix Farm
  • Kate Bolster
  • Lori Nixon
CSU Trial Gardens
  • Rosmary Lucas
  • Linda Helm
  • Barb Maynard
Project Updates
  • We are starting to see more and more native bees! Keep your eyes out!

  • Due to project logistics, we will be dropping the Fort Collins Utilities Garden from the Citizen Science Monitoring Sessions. If you signed up for the Utilities Garden, let me know your preferred garden to monitor instead (Gardens at Spring Creek, CSU Trial Gardens - Plant Select area, or Nix Farm Natural Area). If I don't hear from you, I will contact you about switching gardens. Thanks for your understanding! 

  • You will only be monitoring one garden during your two-hour session. Please arrive at the garden you originally signed up for. 

  • We encourage volunteers to monitor on their own! However, bee monitoring takes practice. There are also a lot of questions that come up. If you would like to monitor on your own, please attend at least two monitoring sessions with a researcher. That will give you experience and will improve your accuracy in collecting data. 

  • Saturday and Sunday monitoring dates are coming soon!
Syrphid Flies
During the monitoring session on May 26th, our team witnessed a large number of syrphid flies. It can be a little tricky to tell them apart from bees, but here are a few tips:
  • Syrphid flies hover and move erratically instead of taking their time moving from flower to flower like bees.
  • Flies also have short stubby antennae rather than long bent antennae.
  • Check out this article to help you learn more about bee mimics!  
A syrphid fly at the CSU Trial Gardens.
A honey bee at the Fort Collins Utilities Garden on Wood Street. 
A syrphid fly at the CSU Trial Gardens.  
A metallic green sweat bee at the Gardens at Spring Creek.
Cool Science!
  We received an e-mail from an enthusiastic Citizen Scientist this week, sharing a great article on  bumblebees, so we thought we'd share it with everyone! We love receiving e-mails with questions, thoughts, or just to share the passion for pollinators! Please send us a note anytime!
Bee of the Week: Hairy Belly Bees

The famous Leafcutter bee, known in Latin as  Megachile spp. is  often overlooked because of its solitary nature but it is an important native pollinator in Colorado   After their nest is made, the bees collect fragments of leaves to construct individual nest cells. 

For more information,  click here




Plant of the Week: Silver Blade Evening Primrose

The Silver Blade Evening Primrose is a hardy plant with a long flowering season that is perfectly suited to Northern Colorado and our native pollinators.
 
For more information,  click here

  A metallic green sweat bee spotted at the Gardens at Spring Creek on June 1st.
Native Bee Watch: A Citizen Science Project Exploring Bee Biodiversity in Northern Colorado

Website: nativebeewatch.wordpress.com     Contact: Lisa Mason at Lisa.Mason@ColoState.edu