- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's a shame we all can't clone ourselves and be in two places at the same time! The 40th annual Western Apicultural Society conference at the University of California, Davis, just concluded and now several more items appear on the University of California calendar.
California Center for Urban Horticulture's 'Bee-ing a Better Bee Gardener'
The California Center for Urban Horticulture, UC Davis, and the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology are co-sponsoring a workshop," Bee-ing a Better Bee Gardener, focusing on pollinators in the garden, from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 23 in Room 2 of Kleiber Hall, UC Davis campus. It's a fundraiser for the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a half-acre garden next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road.
Following the program at Kleiber Hall, participants will visit the haven and are invited to purchase plants at a pollinator plant sale.
Organizers said that "you should plan to attend only if you are a Master Gardener, 'keen' gardener, or have an introductory background knowledge to one of the following: entomology, botany, horticulture, or plant/insect morphology or taxonomy.
The registration fee of $50 includes a continental breakfast and lunch. For more information, contact program manager Eileen Hollett at eahollett@ucdavis.edu or (530)-752 6642.
UC Hopland Research and Extension Center's "Native Bees in Your Backyard"
The UC Hopland Research and Extension Center has scheduled a four-hour program, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 23 on "Native Bees in Your Backyard" at two sites in Hopland. UC Berkeley professor Gordon Frankie and entomologist/photographer Rollin Coville, co-authors of California Bees and Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists, will discuss native bees. They will be joined by Kate Frey, award-winning gardener and co-author of “The Bee-Friendly Garden" who will provide a guided tour of her gardens and explain what plants attract pollinators. Her gardens are renowned for their floristic diversity, color and the habitats they provide for wildlife.
Hannah Bird, community educator at the Hopland Research and Extension Center, says attendees will "learn about some of the 1600 native bee species found in California--from the leafcutting bee to the cuckoo bee, the sweat bee to the mining bee!" They will learn how to identify them and how to accommodate their needs. For more information and directions, Bird can be contacted at hbird@ucanr.edu or (707) 744-1424, Ext. 105.
If you haven't purchased your copy of California Bees and Blooms, it's a treasure. It's the work of Gordon Frankie and photographer Rollin Coville (as mentioned above); Robbin Thorp, distinguished emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis; and Barbara Ertter, UC Berkeley botanist. It's been described as a landmark book.
And now, one more!
Ready for one more? This one, however, is free, and no reservations are required. The Bohart Museum of Entomology of UC Davis will host an open house, "Insects and U," on Sunday, Sept. 24, 1 to 4 p.m. in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane. The open house, a family friendly event, is free and open to the public of all ages.
"This purposely coincides with UC Davis dorm move-in weekend," says Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator. "Our target audience is new students and their families, but everyone is welcome. The focus is how to study insects at home and in school--any age."
Entomologist Jeff Smith, who curates the moth and butterfly collection, will show attendees how to pin and spread butterflies during the three-hour open house. Smith, a resident of Rocklin, curates the 400,000-specimen (and growing) collection. The entomologist has spread the wings of more than 200,000 butterflies and moths, or about 7000 a year, since 1988. “I do most of the work at my home, where I spread and identify specimens and add them to the museum collection,” he said.
“My life is dedicated to this passion of entomology,” said Smith, an associate of the Bohart Museum and a member of the Bohart Museum Society and the Lepidopterists' Society. He was named a recipient of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences' "Friend of the College" award in 2015.
Undergraduate advisor Brandy Fleming will be on hand (tabling) to talk about classes, careers, and fun with entomology. Yang is also planning a display featuring cabbage white butterflies for educators.
The Bohart Museum, directed by Lynn Kimsey, UC Davis professor of entomology, is a world-renowned insect museum that houses a global collection of nearly eight million specimens. It also maintains a live “petting zoo,” featuring walking sticks, Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks, praying mantids, and tarantulas. A gift shop, open year around, offers T-shirts, sweatshirts, books, jewelry, posters, insect-collecting equipment and insect-themed candy.
The Bohart Museum's regular hours are from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. The museum is closed to the public on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and on major holidays. Admission is free.
For more information, email bmuseum@ucdavis.edu or access the website or Facebook page.
So there you have it--bees and gardens on Saturday, Sept. 23, and "Insects and U" (including butterflies) on Sunday, Sept. 24.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Or have you ever seen a bee nectaring in a community garden and wondered "How can I attract THAT bee to my yard?"
Just like all floral visitors are not bees, not all bees are honey bees. However, the honey bee, Apis mellifera, is the most well known. Worldwide, there are 20,000 species of bees. Of that number, 4000 are found in the United States, and 1600 of them in California.
Here's how you can find out more about them.
The University of California Hopland Research and Extension Center has scheduled a four-hour program, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 23 on "Native Bees in Your Backyard" at two sites in Hopland and you're invited.
UC Berkeley professor Gordon Frankie and entomologist/photographer Rollin Coville, co-authors of California Bees and Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists, will discuss native bees. They and will be joined by Kate Frey, award-winning gardener and author of “The Bee-Friendly Garden" who will provide a guided tour of her gardens and explain what plants attract pollinators. Her gardens are renowned for their floristic diversity, color and the habitats they provide for wildlife.
Participants will meet from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the Kate Frey Gardens and from 11:30 to 2 p.m. at the UC Hopland and Research Center, 4070 University Road, Hopland, from 11:30 to 2 p.m. A locally sourced, honey-themed lunch, catered by Beth Keiffer, will be served at noon.
Hannah Bird, community educator at the Hopland Research and Extension Center, says attendees will "learn about some of the 1600 native bee species found in California--from the leafcutting bee to the cuckoo bee, the sweat bee to the mining bee!" They will learn how to identify them and how to accommodate their needs.
Frankie will share the research done by UC Berkeley Urban Bee Lab and Rollin Coville will display and discuss his photographs of native bees and how he captured the images.
Advance registration is required by Sept. 18. The cost is $40, which includes lunch. Click here to register. Maps and directions will be provided to registrants.
For more information, Bird can be contacted at hbird@ucanr.edu or (707) 744-1424, Ext. 105. Hopland Research Center. All interested persons can also sign up for the Hopland monthly email newsletter,
- Author: Sophie Kolding
Author: Greg Giusti
Throughout northern coastal California, a great deal of information regarding water quality and fish habitat is being amassed that potentially could change how people view and utilize stream corridors. However, it is widely recognized among the scientific community that stream corridors are an important habitat component for a host of vertebrate and invertebrate species other than fish. Unfortunately, the current fish-centric approach to riparian protection and restoration has often resulted in a narrow discussion of stream corridor management that excludes non-fish species. For example, information detailing the use of oak woodland stream corridors by migratory songbirds in California’s oak woodlands is sorely lacking, limiting the ability of landowners and resource managers to make informed decisions regarding land use practices and policies and their effects on birds. It is important that we consider these other species when managing and restoring riparian areas, as their requirements may be different than those of the fish.
Spring 2012 marks the 20th consecutive year of a bird monitoring study on Parson’s Creek, an ephemeral (seasonal) tributary of the Russian River that traverses the UC Hopland Research and Extension Center (HREC). The goal of this ongoing project is to document resident and migratory bird use of stream corridors in mixed oak woodlands.
the bark, limbs, twigs and leaves of trees. The species is a cavity nester.
Study Site and Sampling Methods
Parson’s Creek, like most creeks in the North Coast, has been subject to many land use impacts over the past 100 years, including livestock grazing, gravel extraction, channelization, and road crossings with associated aggravated erosion. To offset many of these impacts, HREC instituted a series of restoration activities in the early 1990’s to serve as demonstrations to landowners who are interested in stream restoration. Since then, recovery of native vegetation in some sections of Parson’s Creek has been dramatic. In areas that have excluded both sheep and deer, alder and willow have regenerated and are now providing extensive vegetative cover. Other sections were left unprotected and remain denuded, demonstrating how the restored sites used to look. Consequently, vegetative cover is not uniformly distributed throughout the stream reach. Other over-story species that exist across the study area include blue oak, Oregon white oak (also known as Garry oak), and valley oak.
Twelve monitoring points are established along the main creek channel at HREC. Birds are surveyed using a standard sampling protocol commonly referred to as the “point count method”. This method is widely used to survey birds in the field and involves an observer recording birds from a single point for a set length of time.
Each monitoring point is surveyed 3 times a year during the morning. Two 20-minute counts are conducted each spring between mid-May and early June to coincide with the arrival of migratory songbirds. In addition, one 20-minute count is conducted each fall in mid-October, after the departure of neo-tropical migrants to wintering grounds in the tropics. Birds were identified using visual and auditory cues. Only those birds active (perching, foraging, singing, etc.) within the riparian corridor were tallied. Birds flying high above or passing through the stream zone were not counted.
Yellow-bellied sapsucker. A relatively uncommon woodpecker of oak woodlands
is regularly observed in the woody portions of Parson’s Creek.
Findings
Thousands of bird observations have been recorded. The total number of observations per year ranged from a high of 254 (1993) to a low of 173 (1999). The average number of recorded observations over time is 198 detections per year. The unusually high number of recorded observations in 1993 is most likely an aberration of sampling, not a trend in bird presence. Following the first year, the observers became more conservative and standardized in their data collection.
The large number of bird detections yielded an impressive number of species—81 species, representing 24 taxonomic families and 9 orders. Both resident and migratory species were detected in the oak woodland stream corridor. Species most commonly observed and the corresponding number of detections during the study period is provided in Table 1.
Table 1. Most commonly observed species in the Parson's Creek riparian corridor, HREC.
Ten Most Commonly Ten Most Commonly Observed
Observed Species Neo-Tropical Migratory Species
Oak Titmouse (125) Acorn Woodpecker (103) California Towhee (94) Western Scrub-Jay (78) European Starling (66) Black Phoebe (62) House Finch (59) Brewer's Blackbird (54) Nuttall's Woodpecker (52) Anna's Hummingbird (46) |
Bullock's Oriole (54) Orange-crowned Warbler (49) Violet-green Swallow (43) Ash-throated Flycatcher (37) Pacific-slope Flycatcher (33) Western Tanager (27) Lazuli Bunting (26) Warbling Vireo (25) Western Kingbird (24) Black-headed Brosbeak (22) |
Throughout the study period, an average of 29 species (ranging from 27 to 33) have been detected during the Fall. These species are primarily resident birds that utilize the stream corridor throughout the year. Spring counts averaged 43 species (ranging from 38 to 48). The difference in the average total number of species reflects the seasonal influx of neotropical migratory songbirds that arrive in California’s oak woodlands for the breeding season.
Some species may also be selectively utilizing only portions of the riparian corridor that exhibit special habitat features. For instance, one species in particular, the Black-throated Gray Warbler (Dendroica nigrescens), is consistently found only in those portions of the riparian area where the vegetation canopy is densest. This pattern of occurrence has remained consistent during the entire study period, and suggests that this species may have relatively narrow habitat requirements when compared to other neotropical migrants exploiting the stream corridor.
vegetation. The bird lays its eggs among the barren rocks. The cryptically
colored eggs are virtually invisible. This is one of the few species that
is not dependent on vegetation in oak woodland settings.
Conclusion
There is very little long-term information detailing the use of oak woodland stream corridors by migratory and resident birds in California’s oak woodlands. Our long-term data set demonstrates that migratory songbirds readily utilize the riparian zone, particularly during the spring breeding season. We also observed that some species are more abundant in sections of the creek where more mature vegetation is present.
We plan to continue to monitor the avian assemblage found within this stream corridor. It is our hope that this project, along with the efforts of others, will generate important, long-term, baseline information that will aid in the sustainable management of California’s riparian hardwood communities.