SHUTTERBEE

Photos by Shutterbee participant Lisa Saffell (iNaturalist ID: mo_natureseeker)

Our Participant’s Location

Registration for 2023 is now closed, but if you are interested in learning more, just email us at shutterbee@webster.edu.

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Interested in participating in (more) bee research this summer? Jeremy Howard, a biology phD student at UMSL, is conducting a bumblebee genetic mark-recapture study across various landscapes in the area, and he is looking for survey locations!  Hello all! ☀️ If you haven't already marked your calendars, here is a quick reminder of the upcoming training sessions this spring! The next set of training sessions for new members are TBD but will be sometime in early June. We look forward to seeing you all soon!😊 #shutterbee #citizenscience Hello all! Here are some quick tips to help differentiate male bees from females. Happy IDing!💛 #bees #beeidentification #shutterbee Now that spring🌷 is here in St. Louis, some of you may have spotted the fluff or heard the buzz of an Eastern carpenter bee (Xylocopa virginica)! Interestingly, the first carpenter bees to be spotted each year are always males. The reason for this is that male carpenter bees, like most solitary bee species, emerge before the females do. 🐝 Get excited – the 2023 #Shutterbee season is just around the corner😄🐝🎉 Are you in the St. Louis area, a bee-lover, and interested in joining the 170+ members who have already registered for this year? Go to our website (link in bio), navigate to the March 2023 bulletin under the “bulletin” tab, and click on the hyperlink under the “Sign up for the Shutterbee 2023 Season!” heading. Regardless of previous Shutterbee experience, we are asking that all participants fill out the form before the season starts. Returner training sessions will be in late April, and new member training sessions will be in late May (dates TBD – will be posted in the April bulletin soon!). #citizenscience #bees Alaska wasn't all work for our research scientists! Nicole spent some extra time gallivanting around the Kenai Peninsula south of Anchorage with her husband. In addition to the incredible scenery, the bumble bees were busy collecting pollen and nectar in preparation for fall. Solitary bees do occur in cold environments, but bumble bees are the most abundant pollinator. They have a special adaptation that allows them to fly when it is cool - they can shiver! They "unhook" their wings from their flight muscles and vibrate their muscles, which creates heat. That is rare among bees, which gives them an edge in these tough environments. #beesaroundtheworld One of our Shutterbee participants, Ronald Goetz, captured a pair of Calliopsis andreniformis mating! The male bee, with the bright yellow face and legs, is on the back of the female bee. The male will stay attached to the female as she flies from flower to flower and will only detach once she returns to her nest. Great shots, Ron! Have you photographed any copulating bees in your garden? Post your pics to share the love! We’re back from the Botanical Society of America meeting! I’ll have more on Alaskan bees later this week, but first, I want to give a shout out to Cheyenne, who rocked her talk on how bee diversity INCREASES with urbanization in St. Louis. Well done, Cheyenne! Stay tuned for more of Josh and Cheyenne’s work! They are going places, y’all @websterucsh alumni #citizenscience #urbanbees #beeconservation #rprogramming @botany.baller Rocked his poster last night at #botany2022! He had a steady stream of people interested in hearing about his work on urban pollinator networks, and received lots of good feedback. Congratulations on a job awesomely done, Josh!

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