The Wild Bees of Cincinnati: Learning about tiny bees that live in the big city.

Ohio is one of the best places in eastern North America to find bees, with over 500
species! Even as Ohio’s cities grow, and native habitats for bees diminish, many
continue to flourish where habitat and floral resources are provided for them. How can
Cincinnati support these small, beautiful, and essential creatures?

Join Dr. Olivia Carril and Thane Maynard, Director of the Cincinnati Zoo, for a live
webinar on October 26th at 4:30 EST. They’ll introduce you to some of the amazing
native bees that can be found in the Cincinnati area, and discuss how we can better
provide for some of our busiest, and most overlooked citizens — our wild bees.

Have specific questions about pollinators? Thane Maynard and Olivia Carril will answer
your questions during the live webinar. If you can’t make it, sign up anyway, and we’ll
send you a recording.

What you will learn:

Take a dive into the wild world of solitary bees and learn how they live, what they do,
and where to see them. See how the Cincinnati Zoo is supporting Cincinnati’s bees and
find out what you can do to help these small but important creatures.

Bios:

Olivia Carril

Dr. Olivia Carril has been studying native bees and the plants they visit for more than 20
years. Recent evidence has hinted at a possible decline in native bee species in North
America. Olivia has been involved in several long-term bee monitoring projects
throughout western North America where nearly 3/4 of the US bee species are found.

Thane Maynard

Thane Maynard is one of the most prominent directors of zoos across the country and
is internationally known for his innovation and dedication to wildlife preservation,
research and education. Maynard is recognized as well for building both educational
and research partnerships between the zoo and University of Cincinnati.

Register Online at https://lu.ma/osmia-bee-cincinnati-zoo

A Great Educational Field Trip

Saturday’s education field trip was a resounding success, providing ample learning opportunities and visual aids. Education Coordinator Gary Keuffer facilitated a show and tell format with many veteran club members providing insights and demonstrating  equipment they personally utilize.

While instructing on the correct way to perform a full hive inspection, Gary did a thorough break down of what a beekeeper should expect to see on frames.  Items covered included size of the bees, brood patterns, honey and pollen stores and their importance going into winter. He also covered warning signs and provided suggestions on different methods to deal with any concerns.

The Apiary was provided by Karl Sekol who had an assortment of different feeders that he has used throughout the years along with explanations as to why he chose to continue or stop using certain types of feeders. There were also visual demonstrations of different types of oxalic acid treatments commonly used for Varroa mites, different types of hive beetle traps and deterrents, and finally, example frames of wax moth infestation with a discussion on the damage they can do to a hive.

2020 has been a rough year for education, which is why it felt so good to see so many in our local bee community come out to learn and share knowledge. We look forward to seeing many of you again during our next meeting at Rhonemus Hall in the Brown County Fairgrounds on Tuesday, October 13th. Remember, even though the meeting starts at 7PM, the space opens at 6PM to allow fellow beekeepers to interact with each other 1 on 1.

 

Honey for Sale

Local Honey is available from these club members:

Chris Dresel, Georgetown area cxd8642@earthlink.net

Kevin and Liz Jones, Clermont County HappBeeAcres@gmail.com 513-918-1042

Gary Keuffer, Brown County  bnhr83@gmail.com 937-379-2048

Kelly Morse, Fayetteville/Milford kjmorse19@gmail.com 859-468-4560

Honey, Yellow, Beekeeper, Nature

Webinar Training from OSBA

https://www.ohiostatebeekeepers.org/live-webinar-training-2/  

Who will be presenting?

Aug 9 – Dr. Jay Evans, USDA – Tackling Disease issues at the USDA-ARS Bee Research Laboratory  REGISTRATION Aug 23 – Danae Wolfe, OSU Ed Tech – Macro Photography
Sept 13 – Carmen Conrad – Wax Rendering Sept 27 – Mike Retterer, OPHI – Planting Forage for Pollinators
Oct 11 – Denise Ellsworth, Program Director – Why native plants matter to bees” Oct 25 – Krispn Given, Purdue University – Honeybee Breeding
Nov 8 – Mary Gardiner, Professor of Entomology –  Urban Gardening  for Pollinators Nov 22 – Andrew Connor – What’s Happening in Your Hive
Dec 13 – Cameron Jack, Univerisity of Florida – Oxalic Acid Christmas Break

Meetings to Resume

We  have received approval from the Brown County Health department to resume meetings as long as we follow CDC guidelines which include wearing a mask, social distancing etc.   We will be in the Rhonemus Hall building which is west of the main show ring on the south end of the administration building at the Brown County Fairgrounds in Georgetown starting 8/11/20. We will have it reserved the 2nd Tuesday each month moving forward.

Happy Pollinator Week!

Penn State will be offering a Pollinator Webinar Series, Wednesdays at 3 pm,  Registration required, but the webinars are free and open to all.  To find out more information and register, please go to this website: 

https://lopezuribelab.com/2020/05/23/pollinator-webinar-series-summer-2020/

Topics and dates are below!  Hope to ‘see’ you there!

********************************


June 24th – Bee nutritional ecology: from flowers to landscapes

July 1st – Mason bee management for backyard and orchard pollination

July 8th – Bumble bee biology and management for pollination

July 15th – Bee Biodiversity in Pennsylvania

July 22nd – Gardening for pollinators

_____________________________________

Christina M. Grozinger
Distinguished Professor of Entomology
Director, Center for Pollinator Research

Scholar-in-Residence, Sustainability Institute
Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences
Pennsylvania State University
W-209 Millennium Science Complex
University Park, PA 16802
Email: cmgrozinger@psu.edu
Webpage: http://grozingerlab.com/; https://www.facebook.com/thegrozingerlab
Center for Pollinator Research: http://ento.psu.edu/pollinators

Live Webinar Training Available

Live Webinar Training Directions

Click on the link above for a PDF of the instructions

All of the webinars will be recorded and posted on OSBA’s “NEW” YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOFVaRx00YMUvbVtTR2RxsQ Be sure to “Subscribe” and click the bell to be alerted when we upload any new videos. Click on the speaker/presentation to be taken directly to the recording.

Apr 12 – Jamie Walters – Spring Management w/ Installation of Nucs & Packages 

Apr 26 – Dave Noble – Queen Selection & Spring Splits

May 10 – Dwight Wells – Honeybee Nutrition

May 24 – Barb Bloetscher – ODA, Alcohol Wash, & County Inspection Program

June 14 – Peggy Garnes – Overwintered Queens

June 28 – Kim Flottum – Let Your Bees Pay Their Way

Please give us feedback on what you might want to see in future presentations. You can come this far…take a 2-minute survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WTDLB9J  This helps us know what you’re interested in. Thank you…

 

You’re still not sure you can do this?

Guess what, we have practice sessions between 5:00 pm and 6:00 pm EST before each presentation. Since you will receive the email link 2 hours before the presentation, your welcome to click the link and practice. This allows you to come into the event and learn how to work your microphone, camera, and software settings.

Please remember not to share this link, as each spot is reserved. We do not want anyone interrupting or highjacking the presentation. The host will also be online to answer any technical questions. Ask the host/engineer – Jamie Walters with any technical issues or just say “HI”. It’s easier than you think…

Meeting 3/10 open discussion and social starts at 6pm

Brown County Master Gardeners present PLANTING FOR POLLINATORS TUESDAY MARCH 10, 2020 7:00 P.M.—8:-00 P.M. The focus of this program will be on how to establish larger scale pollinator projects. Topics to be covered: • Site preparation • Choosing seed mixes • Treating noxious weeds • Long term maintenance of pollinator and prairie plots • Resources and funding landowners can utilize.

Programs covered will be: Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQUIP) Presenter Emily Archibald is a Private Lands Biologist with the Wildlife Division of The Ohio Department of Natural Resources