Boston Flora

Tag: Sam Droege

  • Sunday, August 5, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm – Native Bees and Native Plants: You May Be Missing Half the Equation

    When you plant native plants you indirectly invite their pollinators. We know that, but how much do you really know about them? Do you know that a well planted garden can support over 100 species? Do you know that they are nothing like honey bees? No allergic reactions. Single moms putting their nests throughout your lawn. Some specialized species only using the pollen from one of your plants. Do you know that you can identify them using butterfly binoculars? That your yard is part of the solution to pollinator decline? Well, if you know all these things, then very good, but if not, come to Tower Hill Botanic Garden on August 5 from 1 – 2 and see Sam Droege illuminate these and other facts about the secret bee garden you have or will create with the up close pictures his lab crafts.

    Sam Droege is a wildlife biologist at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, part of the US Geological Survey. He is widely published in journals and has been the editor of numerous government publications on birds and insects. His work cataloging and photographing native bees has been featured by NPR, The Weather Channel, and the National Wildlife Federation, as well as in numerous publications including Wired, the Wall Street Journal, and Popular Science. Currently he is developing an inventory and monitoring program for native bees, online identification guides for North American bees at http://www.discoverlife.org, and with Jessica Zelt reviving the North American Bird Phenology Program. His group maintains high resolution photographs of insects and other macro natural history objects at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/usgsbiml/ Fee is $10 for Tower Hill members, $20 for nonmembers. Register at www.towerhillbg.org.

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  • Sunday, August 5, 10:00 am – 11:30 am – Bee Safari

    On Sunday, August 5 from 10 – 11:30 am, join native bee expert Sam Droege on an expedition through Tower Hill Botanic Garden’s gardens and meadows to discover the diversity of bees that live there. Bring close focusing binoculars if you have them and load this on your smartphone: http://bio2.elmira.edu/fieldbio/beesofmarylandbookversion1.pdf

    Sam Droege is a wildlife biologist at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, part of the US Geological Survey. He is widely published in journals and has been the editor of numerous government publications on birds and insects. His work cataloging and photographing native bees has been featured by NPR, The Weather Channel, and the National Wildlife Federation, as well as in numerous publications including Wired, the Wall Street Journal, and Popular Science. Currently he is developing an inventory and monitoring program for native bees, online identification guides for North American bees at http://www.discoverlife.org, and with Jessica Zelt reviving the North American Bird Phenology Program. His group maintains high resolution photographs of insects and other macro natural history objects at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/usgsbiml/

    The session fee is $10 for Tower Hill members, $20 for nonmembers. Register at www.towerhillbg.org.

    Image result for sam droege bee photos

  • Thursday, February 1, 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm – Landscape Maintenance Practices for Native Bees

    Pollinators (including honey bees, native bees, birds, bats, butterflies, and other species) are essential to healthy ecosystems. Pollinators support the success and vigor of flowering plants, making ecosystems stronger, more resilient, and enhancing the environment for human populations. Decades of stressors (including the loss, degradation, and fragmentation of habitat, reduction in the number and quality of food sources, reduction in the availability of sites for breeding, nesting, and roosting, and improper use of pesticides and herbicides) have severely and adversely altered the health and numbers of pollinator populations.

    Landscaping can be a powerful tool to help our pollinators. Equally important to creating pollinator habitat is the maintenance that follows. Pollinator habitats require a maintenance approach that may differ from conventional landscape efforts. Maintenance practices should be carefully considered in order to support the needs of the pollinators. To avoid potential conflicts between the needs of the pollinators and conventional aesthetic, education is key to setting expectations. For example, plants in a garden or habitat designed to promote pollinator health and food for caterpillars and other larvae are expected (and encouraged) to tolerate insect damage to plant leaves. In this Ecological Landscape Alliance webinar on Thursday, February 1 at 4 pm, Sam Droege will discuss pollinator-friendly maintenance strategies including proper timing for garden clean-up, cut-backs, and pruning, protecting pollinator habitats from disturbances and stressors such as pesticide use, establishing appropriate mowing practices, and more.

    Sam Droege is a Wildlife Biologist at the U.S. Geological Survey Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. He has been spent most of his career at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. He has coordinated the North American Breeding Bird Survey Program, developed the North American Amphibian Monitoring Program, the BioBlitz, Cricket Crawl, and FrogwatchUSA programs and worked on the design and evaluation of monitoring programs. Currently he is developing an inventory and monitoring program for native bees, online identification guides for North American bees at http://www.discoverlife.org, and with Jessica Zelt reviving the North American Bird Phenology Program. His group maintains high resolution photographs of insects an other macro natural history objects at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/usgsbiml/. Sam is also the author of Bees: An Up-Close Look at Pollinators Around the World. He holds a B.S. from University of Maryland and an M.S. from State University of New York – Syracuse.  Free for ELA members, $10 for nonmembers. Sign up at http://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/landscape-maintenance-practices-native-bees/

  • Tuesday, October 11, 7:30 pm – The Natural History Gap

    You are invited to the first meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club for 2011/2012, which will take place Tuesday, October 11 at 7:30 pm in Room MCZ 101 at Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts.  Sam Droege of the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center will discuss The Natural History Gap.  Why is the average age of specimens in the ever declining set of remaining insect collections older than seventy years?  Why does NASA spend $1.5 billion a year on climate change satellites yet we remain unclear as to the names of over 10% of North American bees, and know next to nothing of their regional status?  Can natural history collections be mated with inventory and monitoring work and (OMG!) statistics to create an insect satellite system?  For more information, visit www.entclub.org, or email President Jessica Walden-Gray at jessisoutside@gmail.com.