What a fantastic idea! And what an innovative way to help the bees, butterflies and other pollinators.

Oakland parks supervisor Victoria "Tora" Rocha, founder of the Oakland-based Pollinator Posse, was contemplating how to help our struggling pollinators--she's always thinking of them--and originated this idea: “Tees for Bees.” Whack a seed ball (packed with wildflower seeds and a few milkweed seeds) from a golf course to its outlying open space areas.  Seeds germinate; pollinators come. It's a win-win strategy for pollinators and the environment. And a little exercise for the golfers!

The first-ever “Tees for Bees” will take place from 12 noon to 3 p.m. Monday, April 3 on the Lake Chabot Golf Course, 11450 Golf Links Road, Oakland. The goal is to spread California native wildflowers into the open space areas at the Lake Chabot Golf Course and turn them into thriving essential habitat for native bees and butterflies, Rocha says.

“Using seed balls created from local clay soil and wildflower seeds, Ace Kids' Gold participants and community volunteers will launch the balls into the air, spreading seeds across the area,” Rocha says, inviting everyone to “Join us on April 3 as we help this environment, learn about local wildlife and the pollinator process and have some fun playing golf.”

It's sponsored by the Pollinator Posse, City of Oakland, Ace Kids Golf and the Lake Chabot Golf Course. Ace Kids Golf offers transportation, instruction, golf course access, field trips, and life-skills training for more than 425 at-risk youth in Oakland.

Rocha founded the Pollinator Posse in 2012 to hand-rear monarch butterflies at Lake Merritt to increase their survival rates.  (See National Wildlife Federation's tribute to the Mayor of Oakland and the Pollinator Posse in November.) Last Saturday, March 25, Rocha and fellow Posse members discussed butterfly gardening at the first-ever "Let's Wing It" Butterfly Summit at Annie's Annuals and Perennials, Richmond. Rocha also explained the "Tees for Bees" project and the Posse's plans to become a statewide organization.

In fact, the Posse is in the process of contacting UC Master Gardeners to launch “Tees for Bees” at golf courses throughout the state's 58 counties. Other organizations, including 4-H and garden clubs, are also expected to join the grassroots movement. Everyone, Rocha said, is welcome.

The end results could be spectacular--bumble bees and other native bees foraging on phacelia, lupine and the California golden poppy and other native wildflowers. Honey bees, butterflies and flower flies (syrphids) and other pollinators joining in. 

Meanwhile, the first "Tees for Bees" is Monday, April 3.  No golf balls: seed balls. For more information on the Lake Chabot Golf Course event, access teesforbees.eventbrite.com or contact Preston Pinkney, program director at (510) 351-0391 or ppinkney@oaklandnet.com.

To learn more about the Pollinator Posse, "like" or join the Pollinator Posse public Facebook page.

Related Links:

Tora Rocha Greens Up Oakland (Oakland Magazine)

The Gardens at Lake Merritt

National Wildlife Federation Tribute to Pollinator Posse

Pollinator Posse's Outdoor Classroom

Tora Rocha Interview (Garden Tribe)

Teenagers who dig bugs and wildlife biology will love this!

The UC Davis Bohart Museum of Entomology is again sponsoring two summer Bio Boot Camps: one for youths entering the seventh, eighth or ninth grade this fall, and one for youths entering grades 10 through 12 this fall.

"The camps focus on insect science and wildlife biology, due to our partnership with the UC Davis Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology," said camp coordinator Tabatha Yang, the Bohart Musuem's education and outreach coordinator.

The Bio Boot Camp, the seventh annual camp for middle school students, will take place Monday-Friday, June 19-23. It's based in Davis, but Thursday night features an overnight stay at the UC Berkeley's Sagehen Field Station, near Truckee. The total cost, including meals and housing, is $425.

Bio Boot Camp 2.0, the fifth annual camp for high schoolers, is set July 23 to 29. They will spend one night at UC Berkeley's Quail Ridge Reserve, near Winters. "The next day will be spent exploring UC Davis and the museums," Yang said. "Then Monday night through Saturday morning, the camp is at the Sagehen Field Station where the youths will be developing mini research projects." The total cost, including meals and housing, is $795.

"Another great aspect of the camps are the teaching opportunities they provide for UC Davis students," Yang said. "As camp instructors, they gain invaluable teaching and mentoring experience."

Pre-enrollments take place January through March, and the campers are selected for formal enrollment in early April. "We do this to select the most genuinely interested campers," Yang explained. The process is already under way: the first application came from Germany.

Enrollment is kept low to provide quality experiences. The middle-school camp is limited to 12 students and the high school camp, to 10. Each camp has two instructors. The Bohart Museum Society sponsors need-based partial scholarships for several campers each year.

For more information, access the website at http://bohart.ucdavis.edu/summer-camp. Yang can be reached at at tabyang@ucdavis.edu or (530) 752-0493.

Sometimes you get lucky. Sometimes you go hungry.

Take the case of the huge jumping spider (a female Phidippus audax or bold jumping spider, as identified by Wade Spencer of the UC Davis Bohart Museum of Entomology) hanging out in our Spanish lavender. Hey, pretend I'm not here!  It stealthily crawls up and down the stems, blending into the shadows. It summits the flowers, looking for bees.  Where are the bees? Where is my dinner?

The predator and the prey. The hunter and the hunted. The jumping spider, with four pairs of eyes. The honey bee with five eyes (two large compound eyes and three smaller ocelli eyes). The jumping spider's bite is venom. The honey bee's sting is venom.

If they meet, it will be deadly. The spider will shoot venom in the bee, paralyzing it.

Meanwhile, the honey bees are buzzing from flower to flower, some oblivious to the dark shadow lurking near them. No ambush today. 

Sometimes you go hungry.

If you like writing with light (photography), then you'll probably love capturing images of honey bees spinning like helicopters.

In the late afternoon, when the light softens, head over to your favorite Spanish lavender patch. Pull up a chair, listen to the buzz of the bees, and watch them spin their wings somewhat like helicopters do their blades.

Such was the case yesterday. The bees were buzzing so loud in the patch of lavender, Lavandula stoechas, that they sounded like spring unleashed. That buzz you hear is their wings; they've been recorded at 200 beats per second.  Honey bees can be long-distance travelers; they can forage up to five or six miles, and can move about 15 miles per hour.

Those streaming purple petals topping the bloom are actually sterile bracts--Wikipedia defines a bract as "a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis, or cone scale." The bracts resemble rabbit ears, but ironically, Spanish lavender is rabbit-resistant and deer resistant (which is  probably why there are no deer or rabbits in our urban yard!)

Meanwhile, if you've been wanting to learn more about honey bees, mark your calendar for these events in Davis and Woodland, Yolo County.

California Honey Festival: The inaugural California Honey Festival will take place Saturday, May 6 in downtown Woodland. Associated with the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center, it will be held outdoors (Main Street), encompassing four blocks. It's free and open to the public. Expect beekeeper talks, booths, vendors, music, mead, honey tasting and lots of fun, says Amina Harris, director of the Honey and Pollinator Center See http://californiahoneyfestival.com.

UC Davis Bee Symposium: The Honey and Pollination Center and the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology are sponsoring their third annual Bee Symposium, "Keeping Bees Healthy," on Sunday, May 7 in the UC Davis Conference Center. Keynote speaker is noted apiculturist Steve Sheppard of Thurber Professor of Apiculture and chair of the Department of Entomology, Washington State University, Pullman, Wash. Sheppard specializes in population genetics and evolution of honey bees, insect introductions and mechanisms of genetic differentiation. He also heads the Apis Molecular Systematics Laboratory. Registration is underway at http://honey.ucdavis.edu/events/2017-bee-symposium.

Western Apicultural Society (WAS): Founded 40 year ago at UC Davis, WAS will return to its roots for its next conference, set from Sept. 5-8 in Davis. Its president is Eric Mussen, UC Extension apiculturist emeritus, who is based in  the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. He's a familiar face; he's one of the three WAS co-founders and he's serving his sixth term as president. The conference open to the public. Registration is underway on the WAS website, http://www.westernapiculturalsociety.org.