
My intended post was / is in large part a celebration of the one-year anniversary of the Native Pollinators Study Group (Thurston County). We are delighted to have developed a nice relationship with Traditions Cafe, who has hosted all of our our programs after our opening meeting at the Olympia library. Over the past year we have explored many topics and learned a great deal. One of the projects I have enjoyed has been making monthly flyers for the program, which further inspired me into making some posters using some of our numerous photos, taken especially by Nancy, over the years. Both posters and flyers will be found in one of our blog side-bars.
About the Pollinator Study Group. If you live in the greater Olympia area, come join us for one of our 4th Monday programs, which meets at 7 p.m. Traditions Cafe lets us use their cafe after they close, and we put in a good word for them whenever we can. Over the past year we have explored many topics and learned a great deal. One of the projects I have enjoyed has been making monthly flyers for the program, which has further inspired me into making some posters using some of the numerous photos taken, especially by Nancy, over the years.
By the way, if you don’t live in the area, consider starting your own study group; I’ve loads of suggestions. In part I take inspiration from Scarabs, an insect society (bug fans) who have gathered, with a few year interruption, since 1937. If you are in Seattle near the Burke Museum on a 4th Monday (yes, we meet the same time), they always have an interesting program. (AND... this coming Sunday, 9/18 BugBlast at the Burke.)
Our September program (Sept 26) is a new visit with an old friend — Mason Bees. This is the first study group program specifically on them since we have been meeting. Mason bees — a starter bee (entry drug) for many of us — have taught me a great deal both about the habits of solitary bees and about the diverse small animals who coexist with them. While I do not blog often about these fascinating and sometimes overhyped bees, also on our blog side bar are several static pages with information about them that I am in process of updating and expanding.
In October (Oct 24) we welcome Eli Bloom, a WSU student completing his doctoral studies. Eli and his assistants placed monitoring stations at about two dozen organic farms in the Puget Sound region as well as developed identification guides so that farmers and gardeners could better identify some of the pollinating insects visiting their landscapes. Now Eli is ready to present his initial findings and to explore with us the roles native pollinators play on organic farms and what can be done to improve their numbers and success.
The final program for 2016 is November (Nov 29), as we do not meet in December. At this point our topic is under discussion, so if you would like to influence our decision please let us know ASAP of what pollinator topic YOU would like to explore. Glen
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