Posts Tagged: The Bee Course
So, You Want to Become a Beekeeper...
So you want to become a beekeeper... You want to do your part to help the declining bee population. You want to learn about the honey bees that pollinate the food you eat, including fruits, vegetables and nuts (especially almonds!). You'd love some honey for your table and some wax to make...
Worker bees and queen cells. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A drone (male bee) emerging. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Find the queen! This photo of Italian honey bees was taken at Jackie Burris-Parks Queens, Palo Cedro. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Very Tiny Bee
At first glance, it appeared to be a gnat circling our head. Then it landed on our passionflower vine (Passiflora). It cooperatively stayed still for a photo (taken with a Nikon D800 mounted with a 105mm macro lens) and then returned to its nest, a hole in the ground. A tiny bee, but what...
A tiny sweat bee, Lasioglossum, subgenus Evylaeus, on a passionflower vine (Passiflora). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Close-up of a tiny sweat bee, genus Lasioglossum, subgenus Evylaeus, on a passionflower vine (Passiflora). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Bee Course
If you want to learn about bees--and learn it from the experts--The Bee Course is the place to be. It's an annual workshop held at the Southwestern Research Station (SWRS) in Portal, Ariz. for conservation biologists, pollination ecologists, and other biologists "who want to gain greater knowledge...
Robbin Thorp (left) of UC Davis and John Ascher of the National University of Singapore are two of The Bee Course instructors. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Robbin Thorp at a UC Davis function with Emily Bzdyk, who received her master's degree in entomology from UC Davis and is a graduate of The Bee Course. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Why This Is Bee Is Cuckoo
When you visit the half-acre Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a bee friendly garden on Bee Biology Road at the University of California, Davis, you might just see a cuckoo bee. The cuckoo bee (see below) is a male Triepeolus concavus, as identified by native pollinator specialist Robbin...
A male cuckoo bee, Triepeolus concavus, on a blanket flower (Gaillardia). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Male cuckoo bee sipping nectar. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
So Many Bees
Folks accustomed to seeing only honey bees (which are non-natives) buzzing around their yard probably aren't aware that in the United States alone there are some 4000 identified species of native bees.And they probably aren't aware of The Bee Course. That's a workshop offered for conservation...
Yolo County Bee Collection
Metallic Green Sweat Bee
Cuckoo Bee
Sunflower Bee
Carpenter Bee