Master Melittologist Topics of Interest

Getting to know bee mouthparts

Mouthparts are fascinating parts of bee anatomy, but like mouths of insects in general, they can be difficult to understand (see Gary Larson cartoon). Mouthparts are easy to ignore because we don’t understand much about them. ...

Robert "Pete" Pederson | Aug 2021 | Article

Birders are a natural audience for informal outreach about bees

A recent springtime bee-collecting excursion in a popular bird-watching area showed that birders are a natural audience for outreach about bees. Although no surprise in retrospect, the birders' keen interest was an instructive discovery.

Pam Hayes | Aug 2021 | Article

How to rehydrate a bee specimen

Bee specimens can become brittle over time and can break into pieces with the slightest touch. The solution is to rehydrate them with this simple process.

Martha Richards | Aug 2021 | Article

Winter blooms feed the bees

A great way to help native bees is to provide bee-friendly flowering plants in your yard, especially ones that bloom in the winter. In western Oregon, heather is one such reliable winter bloomer.

Martha Richards | Aug 2021 | Article

Bees demonstrate they're nature's HVAC specialists

How do bees keep cool in a heat wave? Scorching temperatures in Oregon in June 2021 provided an opportunity to monitor some beehives to see how bees maintain a safe temperature inside their hives.

Mark Gorman | Aug 2021 | Article

Strepsiptera: The strange parasite that attacks bees and other insects

Strepsiptera are strange beetle-like parasites that live off bees and other insects. The larvae burrow into the exoskeleton of the bee, where they mature into adults. Their heads can be seen protruding from their hosts.

Jessica Hird | Aug 2021 | Article

Less showy flower petals mean more pollinators

As beautiful as they are to us, some horticulturally “improved” varieties of flowers just aren’t as attractive to bees, butterflies and other insects. Doubled petals, in particular, may block access to nectar or pollen.

Ellen Silva | Aug 2021 | Article

Western bumble bee population declines sharply

The western bumble bee was historically very common throughout the western United States and Canada. However, in the last 20 years it has declined by more than 90%. Disease is the probable cause.

Jess Tyler | Nov 2020 | Article

Profile of showy townsendia — Townesendia florifer

Showy townsendia is a member of the sunflower or aster family, the largest family of flowering plants in the world. This family is very important ecologically, especially for native bees and other pollinators.

Phil Paterno | Nov 2020 | Article

Profile of Oregon sunshine — Eriophyllum lanatum

Oregon sunshine is a member of the sunflower or aster family. It thrives in a variety of habitats, most frequently on dry, sandy sites or fine talus slopes. Many species of bees rely on Oregon sunshine.

Phil Paterno | Nov 2020 | Article

Resin bees

Resin bees build above-ground nests out of plant resin or a mix of plant resin and stones. These freestanding nests, about one-third inch, accommodate one egg and may be attached to a twig, leaf, rock or other surface.

Tom Robertson, Julie Biddle | Nov 2020 | Article

Species profile: Suckley’s cuckoo bumble bee

Suckley’s cuckoo bumble bee once was found in the mountainous areas of western North America from Colorado to Alaska. But there have only been a few observations in the past 20 years with the last one in 2017.

Jess Tyler | Nov 2020 | Article

Leave behind some stems for bee habitat

Home gardeners can provide natural habitat for native bees by leaving behind the dried, pithy stems of shrubs such as raspberries, elderberries and hydrangea. It's in those stems that carpenter bees build their nests.

Leana Dickerson | Nov 2020 | Article

Seventy percent of bees live in nests underground, not in hives

That tiny anthill you noticed may actually be the entrance to a ground-nesting bee family. A single female bee excavates a ground nest by using her saliva and tough mandibles to break up and move soil.

John Womack | Nov 2020 | Article

When submitting bee photos to iNaturalist, consider your angles

When submitting photos of bees for iNaturalist identification, consider your angles. Providing photos of the bee’s abdomen, head and thorax from multiple angles can help ensure accurate identification.

Anna Brown | Nov 2020 | Article

Goldenrod crab spiders are sneaky predators for bees

Goldenrod crab spiders are adept at ambushing bees by changing their color to match the flower they're inhabiting. The spider will sit in the center of a flower and when a bee moves near, the spider attacks.

Pam Hayes | Oct 2020 | Article

Sweat bees and mariposa lilies

Emerald green sweat bees are striking in appearance with coloring that ranges from metallic green to blue or purple. It is found throughout the US from sea level to about 8,000 feet but is most common on the West Coast.

Pam Hayes | Oct 2020 | Article

Cheery garden cosmos

In late summer as most seasonal flowering plants start to wither, the cheery garden cosmos is still blooming strong. It is also attracting a diversity of bees, pollinators and other beneficial insects.

Candy Solovjovs | Oct 2020 | Article

Maintain a bee-friendly garden in fall and winter, too

Many home gardeners put much effort into attracting bees to their summer flower and vegetable gardens. But it's just as important to be bee-friendly in the fall and winter. Here's how to do it.

Candy Solovjovs | Oct 2020 | Article

Calochortus eurycarpus (white mariposa lily)

The white mariposa lily is a bulb-forming perennial that produces a flowering stem up to 20 inches tall. Flowers have three large white petals with purple blotches, and bloom occurs June to August.

Jeannette Krampien, Greg Low | Sep 2020 | Article

Zigadenus elegans (mountain death camas)

Mountain death camas is a perennial that grows in mountain meadows, rocky slopes and forests. Its creamy flowers bloom in the summer. The plant is toxic, including its pollen and nectar, and attracts one type of bee.

Jeannette Krampien, Greg Low | Sep 2020 | Article

Eschscholzia californica (California poppy)

The California poppy blooms from March to October and attracts hundreds of native bees. It grows in grassy areas up to 7,000 feet. Flowers respond phototropically to low light levels, closing at night and on cloudy days.

Jeannette Krampien, Greg Low | Sep 2020 | Article

Camassia quamash (common or small camas)

Small camas is a perennial that produces a stem up to three feet high with blue-violet, star-shaped flowers. It is found on grassy slopes and meadows at low to mid-elevations and blooms from April to June.

Jeannette Krampien, Greg Low | Sep 2020 | Article

Ipomopsis aggregata (scarlet gilia)

Scarlet gilia is a biennial to perennial forb with a flowering stem up to 2 feet tall. Long, red tubular flowers grow on stems, and bloom occurs August to October. Found on hillsides and slopes at higher elevations.

Jeannette Krampien, Greg Low | Sep 2020 | Article

Penstemon procerus (littleflower penstemon)

Penstemon procerus features blue-purple, tubular petals and attracts bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. The plants are fairly common at middle to high elevations of western North America from Alaska to California.

Jeannette Krampien, Greg Low | Sep 2020 | Article

Lupinus argenteus (silvery lupine)

Silvery lupine has multiple erect stems 1 to 2 feet tall with blue to violet flowers that grow on spikes 8 inches long. Bloom occurs June to August. Found in stream valleys, dry roadsides and rocky prairies.

Jeannette Krampien, Greg Low | Sep 2020 | Article

Chamaenerion angustifolium (fireweed)

Fireweed is a perennial forb with erect stems 1 to 6 feet tall. Pink flowers grow on long stems, and bloom occurs June to September. Grows in moist to dry disturbed areas such as clearings, roadsides and river bars.

Jeannette Krampien, Greg Low | Sep 2020 | Article

Eriogonum umbellatum (sulphur-flower buckwheat)

Sulphur-flower buckwheat is a perennial forb or subshrub that grows in sandy and gravelly areas in sagebrush communities on dry slopes, ridges and rock outcrops at elevations up to 10,000 feet.

Jeannette Krampien, Greg Low | Sep 2020 | Article

Eriogonum heracleoides (parsnip-flower buckwheat)

Parsnip-flower buckwheat features white to yellow flowers on branching woody stems that are 4 to 24 inches tall. Bloom is from May to July or later in higher elevations. Found in forest openings and on ridges.

Jeannette Krampien, Greg Low | Sep 2020 | Article

Nesting habits of solitary bees

Providing healthy habitat alongside pollen and nectar sources for our native bees is one of the best ways to support a healthy pollinator population. For cavity-nesting bees, home can be as simple as a hole in the wall.

Leana Dickerson | Sep 2020 | Article

Wasps are pollinators too

Humans tend to recoil from the sight of wasps but they are an important part of nature's pollinating community. Even though they don't collect pollen, they are effective at transferring it from plant to plant.

Leana Dickerson | Sep 2020 | Article

Franklin’s bumble bee remains elusive

Franklin's bumble bee is a rare bee that has not been seen since 2006, but people have been looking for it every year. Along with the western bumble bee, it is being considered for listing as an endangered species.

Jess Tyler | Aug 2020 | Article

Bees in the vegetable garden — mustard

Want to entice more bees to your vegetable garden? Plant mustard. Bees absolutely love mustard flowers! The pretty, bright yellow flowers produce an abundance of both pollen and nectar for bees and other pollinators.

Candy Solovjovs | Aug 2020 | Article

Squash bees

When squash blossoms are abloom in Oregon gardens, bees take notice. And one of those might be a squash bee, which was only recently discovered to exist in Oregon.

Candy Solovjovs | Aug 2020 | Article

The buckwheat family

Desert buckwheat is an attractive, long-lived perennial with variably colored, ball-shaped flower clusters. It provides nectar and pollen for bees and other pollinators, as well as seeds for songbirds and rodents.

Phil Paterno | Jul 2020 | Article

Bumblebees and lavender

While both bumblebees and honey bees are attracted to lavender, the plant is more popular among bumblebees whose long tongues allow them to efficiently extract nectar from lavender’s tubular flowers.

Candy Solovjovs | Jul 2020 | Article

Carpenter bees are right at home in dead blackberry canes

That tangle of dead blackberry canes just might be hiding new life! Look for hollow stems, signs that the small carpenter bee has built a safe nest for her eggs.

Ellen M. Silva | Jul 2020 | Article

For some bees, flowers are a place to bed down

Have you ever looked into a flower and discovered a bee just sitting there? Depending on the kind of bee, it might actually be sleeping. And that's a great time to get an up-close look at these tiny marvels.

Ellen M. Silva | Jul 2020 | Article

Family Rosaceae — Rosa woodsii — Woods' rose

Woods' rose is a common wild rose that grows in a variety of habitats in the Pacific Northwest and provides habitat for a variety of bees and other wildlife. Its fragrant pink flowers attract bees and other pollinators.

Phil Paterno | Jun 2020 | Article

Raspberry canes and carpenter bees

If you want to raise bees in your yard but aren't up to maintaining a hive, old raspberry canes might be the answer. Friendly carpenter bees like to burrow into spent berry canes to create their nests.

Jocelyn McAuley | Apr 2020 | Article