Native Bees and the Plants they Love
Want to learn more about our native bees? Catch the next NatTalk at the San Diego Natural History Museum next Thursday, June 20th at 7pm. Tickets at SDNAT.ORG.
Want to learn more about our native bees? Catch the next NatTalk at the San Diego Natural History Museum next Thursday, June 20th at 7pm. Tickets at SDNAT.ORG.
Hello friend,
@jessmullins and @patsimpson2000 will be at the San Diego NAT on June 20th, to talk about our Native Bees and the Plant They Love! More info and registration at the link below:
https://www.sdnhm.org/calendar/nattalks-and-films/
Where: Cabrillo National Monument
When: 8/26, 6pm
What: Talk about citizen science
I know if you come to this event, I will be preaching to the choir. I will be talking about Citizen Science and its importance in today's research. The talk will be in person at the Cabrillo National Monument auditorium (park entry fee applies) with a free virtual option (rsvp required for virtual option). There will be a short guided walk in the park after the talk to explore and make observations.
Details here:
https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/event-details.htm?id=1AFDF97B-D859-7A1E-EA3EB802199A61A7
Are you bored? no photos to post? your iNat notification queue is empty?
Fear not, there always something you can do!
San Diego County has a lot of "unknown" observations and the number is going up. This happens when someone adds an observation without an identification (usually a new user or the occasional mis-hap).
How can you help?
-Click on the "Explore tab"
-Enter "San Diego County" in the location field
-Click on filters and in the "Categories", select the bottom right symbol. It looks like a dotted leaf with a question mark in the center. Finish by clicking "Update Search".
Congratulations! You are now looking at nearly 2,000 unknown observations from San Diego County. Click on the observations and add an ID. For any organism, you don't need to spend an enormous amount of time trying to figure out what it is. Just enter a broad ID such as Vascular Plants or Fungus, including Lichens or Winged and Once-winged Insects. Of course if you can refine the ID, please do so!
This simple action will get the observation out of "unknown" status and a future identifier who focuses on plants or insects will be able to see that observation in their search.
You may run into photos of pets or house/yard plants. That's ok. Just enter an ID (refined or broad) and make sure you scroll down and under "organism is wild", select the box for "no". This will kick the observation into a "casual" grade, which scientists can disregard for their research projects. For certain animal like dogs, cats, cows, the observation might automatically go into "casual" grade. In this case, you don't have to worry about selecting the the "organism is wild" box.
You may run into photos that are so blurry you can't tell at all what it is, or a photo of a road or an object or a kid making funny faces. For these simply enter "human" and the observation will automatically be assigned a "casual" grade. Think of it as human error :)
You may run into observations that are simply "State of matter Life". These are observations that might not be able to be IDed based on current photos. This happens when the observer has applied an ID such as "bees", but an identifier missed the bee and IDed the plant it was on instead. The only thing in common between these two is "Life". This also happens a lot with plant diseases because it can be hard to determine if ailments are due to a fungal infection, a viral infection or or even a pest affliction. In this case, just leave the observation as is, unless you have the answer as to what it is that's causing the damage.
You may run into someone who has several photos, but they are of different organisms. In this case, add a comment to the observation such as :
Hopefully the person will fix the observation(s).
I usually don't spend a lot of time doing this, just 15 minutes here, 15 minutes there. But if many of us do this, we can clean up the San Diego data set :) ... and maybe we'll find some bees in the process. I just found two today!!
We all know that our bee observations go hand in hand with the plants they visit. See the amazing opportunity below to sharpen your plant observations!
Now's your chance to learn firsthand how to make the best plant observations on iNaturalist and to have your questions answered by one of San Diego County's local botanical experts! Join San Diego Natural History Museum Curator of Botany and National Geographic Explorer Dr. Jon Rebman on Saturday, June 11, 2022, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Mission Trails Regional Park for a class on perfecting your iNaturalist plant observations. Jon will share tips and tricks for how to make plant observations that are valuable to science beginning with a lecture at 9 a.m. in the Visitor Center classrooms. Following the classroom presentation, participants will divide into groups to spend time in the field in MTRP practicing their skills.
This training is geared towards participants who have experience with iNaturalist, are interested in learning more about the plants and botanical diversity in San Diego County, as well as identification resources. There is no charge for the class but seating is limited. To register, send an email with the name of the registrant to iNatPlants@yahoo.com. Registrations will be accepted until all seats are filled. You will receive a confirmation reply.
This presentation is brought to you by the San Diego Natural History Museum with funding from the National Geographic Society.
Check out this wonderful story map about the first records of Anthophora urbana clementina on the mainland.
Thanks to all the iNat people participating in the Cabrillo Bee Surveys for your hard work: @carrotpeople @tom_barnes_ @mjready @biocowboy @bonnienickel @markkjames @biohexx1 @thumbwave @u_phantasticus
and thank you @kjhung and @johnascher for your precious help!
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Xerces Society have partnered up to take inventory of California's native bumble bees. Join them at San Elijo Ecological Reserve (SEER), and practice catching, identifying, and releasing bumble bees! *Note, this event is open to anyone regardless of previous attendance to bumble bee workshops.
More information here:
https://www.cabumblebeeatlas.org/events.html
Register for April 2nd Field Day workshop at SEER:
https://survey123.arcgis.com/share/e416f64ada5443819b30711d64d918d8
Hi Bee-thusiasts,
Just wanted to let you know about this virtual conference October 19th in case any of you are interested. Note the schedule is for Eastern Time zone. Some afternoon lectures will discuss the impact of fires on bumblebees and native bee populations.
See link below for conference details and registration:
https://www.naturalareas.org/2021_natural_areas_conference.php
A Red-tailed Squash Bee (Xenoglossa angustior) was spotted near Kate Sessions Park earlier in the month.
Congratulations to @garybnunn for finding this beautiful specimen. This is the first confirmed photograph of this species in iNaturalist!
A Nevada Nomia (Dieunomia nevadensis) was spotted by @thefalcon earlier this week.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/83842796
This is the first photograph of this species within San Diego County in iNat!
Keep your eyes open when you are out on the trails!
According to James Hung, this bee can be found "immediately along the coast (seems to be all black) or in the desert (mixed red and black)".
Happy hunting :)