Hello phenomenal bumble counting team!
The Blitz is finally almost here (tomorrow, July 16th!!), and I hope you’re all excited to get out and collect some data! Just as a reminder, there are two options for participating in the Blitz:
1) Simply go out and do as many surveys as you can tomorrow, and submit your data by midnight the same day. This option is completely independent, can be done anywhere, and is basically surveying as usual.
2) Join a Blitz group to meet up with tomorrow at 10:00 am, and go survey from there! If you’re going with a group, remember that we don’t want to duplicate data. This means multiple people shouldn’t be surveying the same area at the same time. My plan is to meet up and discuss the survey protocol, then send people off to survey different areas within walking distance. If anyone feels uncertain about the procedure, I’ll have them come along with me to watch me complete a survey – but we will only submit one datasheet. After we’re all done, we’ll meet back up to discuss the floral quantification, and any questions that came up.
Here’s the group info again – all groups are planning to meet at 10:00 am EST:
Group 1: Bowie/Laurel, MD – Bee Lab at Patuxent Wildlife Research Refuge with Jenan El-Hifnawi (bumblebeecount@gmail.com)
Group 2 : Ridgely, MD – Adkins Arboretum with Sam Droege (sdroege@usgs.gov)
Group 3: Loudoun, VA – Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve with Heather Dionne (heather.dionne@gmail.com)
Groups 4 and 5: Williamstown, WV – Refuge office at Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge with Elaine Barr and her colleague (elaine_barr@fws.gov)
Whether or not you join a group, we want your data for the Blitz! Thank you all for collecting so much amazing data already – I can’t wait to see what we can accomplish tomorrow! 🙂
Jenan El-Hifnawi
Ask A Bumble Bee (AABB) Coordinator
