Get Out Your Tiny Bee-Sized Clipboards

...and help count the bees in your yard! (BTW, there is a bee up there on that arugula flower if you make the photo larger; that arugula stand is about 5 feet tall. I let it go to seed for my bird and bee friends). The Great Sunflower Project aims to enlist the help of the public to check on the bee population in urban areas--here's an interesting short article about it in American Scientist. You sign up with the project and they'll mail you a packet of sunflower seeds. After your sunflowers bloom, you count the number of bees who visit a flower in a specific time period, and the scientific types will extrapolate from there.



I'm always up for a good nature count: remember this? And then there's BioBlitz, where you count species (plants, animals, insects) in a specific area, such as a park--locally, the San Diego Natural History Museum is conducting one at Mission Trails Regional Park on May 2...hmm...I may have to take my bee-sized clipboard and head on over! (I'm such a geek, aren't I?!)You can tell it's spring and everything is blooming--this lovely lady above has pollen sacs that are bursting with bright yellow pollen; I saw another one on this plant who was carrying around screaming orange pollen. I love them so...I could watch my bee girls for hours.