Everyone is welcome to join this community-science survey while the flowers and pollinators are in full force at Vesper Meadow. Local pollinator enthusiasts from Pollinator Project Rogue Valley and Travis Owen will lead a bumble bee walk at the Vesper Meadow Restoration Preserve. We’ll learn the basics of native bumble bee identification and catch/release survey techniques, and contribute to the long term bumble bee survey at the Preserve.
Travis Owen, Vesper Meadow’s pollinator advocate, is a self described nature enthusiast with a passion for pollination ecology and the role of pollinators in the environmental context. Travis is a self-taught plant and pollinator afficianado who avidly takes pictures and writes about native bees and wasps on his blog The Amatuer Anthecologist.
General Event Schedule:
10am - 11:30: Intro to ID, bumble bee walk
12:noon: Picnic lunch
1:30pm - 2pm: Field survey and bumble bee photo session
Bring: Comfortable close-toed shoes, long pants, sun protection, sack lunch and at least 1 liter waterbottle. (Insect collecting and identification materials will be available to borrow, but you are welcome to bring your own supplies)