The following Frequently Asked Questions are in our presentation but I thought they would be worth posting here. Enjoy your bee watching and more posts will be coming next week!
Should I observing the entire plant or just one flower?
Answer- Record bee visitation to the entire plant (which may have multiple flowers). Some flowering plants, such as trees, shrubs and vines are very large and it may be impossible to count all the bees that are present. We encourage you to conduct your observations on single‐stemmed herbaceous flowers such as coneflowers and sunflowers, and other focal species for this project.
How can I tell if I am observing a single plant or several planted together?
Answer- Sometimes plants are grouped in a bunch and may look like one shrub. Follow the stem of one flower to the ground. Observe just the flowers present on that one stem.
If the same bee lands on a flower several times, should I record each landing?
Answer- Yes! Record each landing even if by the same bee. Because pollen can be transferred each time a bee lands on a flower, this information is very useful.
If no bees come, should I send in the data?
Answer- Yes! We are interested in areas that don’t have bees. This will help us understand what areas of the city may need more green spaces.
What if I see bees landing on ornamental flowers already in the garden but ignoring the natives provided by Bee Watchers?
Feel free to observe the flowers with bees on them but keep an eye on the natives to make sure no bees land during 30 minutes. Then send us data on both plants! The fact that there were bees present in your yard yet they did not visit the native plants provides very interesting data.
I have many honey bees on the cucumbers and other plants but not many on the Sunflower that is in full bloom.