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Victoria Rhododendron Society http://www.victoriarhodo.ca/index.html 7:30 pm at the Garth Homer Centre, 813 Darwin St, near the Saanich City Hall, January 9, 7:30. Presentation on "Flower designs and how native bees work in concert with them".
Did you know that all parts of rhododendrons are poisonous? Even honey harvested from rhododendrons can be toxic. Victoria Horticultural Society, Fruit & Veggie Group http://www.islandnet.com/~vhsweb/ 7:00 January 23. Presentation on "Flower designs and how native bees work in concert with them".
Qualicum Beach Seedy Saturday http://www.qbseedysaturday.com/ Saturday February 4, Qualicum Beach Civic Centre, 10:00-3:30. Presentation on "Flower designs and how native bees work in concert with them".
 Seedy Saturday at Qualicum Beach. photo courtesy of Norma Kellinghusen
 From the Qualicum Beach Seedy Saturday event with friends Karen Potts, Gabe Epstein and my neice Alexis Kellinghusen. photo courtesy of Norma Kellinghusen
Gordon Head Garden Club http://www.bcgardenclubs.com/clubs/gordon_head_garden_club.html Gordon Head United Church 4201 Tyndall Av., Monday, Feb. 6, 7:30. Presentation on local native bees.
Victoria Seedy Saturday http://www.jamesbaymarket.com/seedysaturday/seedysaturday.htm Saturday February 18, Victoria Conference Centre. Presentation on "More Than One Native: How Various Bee Pollinators Work With Flower Designs To Make Your Garden More Bountiful".
Victoria Compost Education Centre http://www.compost.bc.ca/ Saturday February 25, 2:00-4:00. Lifecycle and Biology of the Orchard Mason Bee - Level I.
Victoria Compost Education Centre http://www.compost.bc.ca/ Saturday March 3, 2:00-4:00. Lifecycle and Biology of the Orchard Mason Bee - Level I.
Vancouver Island Heather Society http://www.bcheathersociety.org Wednesday March 7, Masonic Hall in Mill Bay, 3:00. Co-evolution of native bees and flowering plants, including info on orchard mason bees. Glendale Gardens http://hcp.ca/ Saturday March 31, 1-4:00. Building Orchard Mason Bee Condos.
Nanaimo Horticultural Society www.nanaimohort.org April 11, 7:30 Nanaimo Ecumenical Centre 6234 Spartan Rd, Nanaimo. Presentation on native bees.
CRD Parks, Naturalist Talk http://www.crd.bc.ca/parks/ at Freeman King Park, Saturday, April 14, 11-3:00. Talk on orchard mason bees followed by a building a mason bee condo.
  Greater VIctoria Public Library, http://iis.gvpl.ca/evanced/lib/eventcalendar.asp?ag=&et=&df=calendar&cn=0&private=0&ln=7 at Saanich Centennial Branch (Pearke's Arena), April 18, 7:00 pm. Talk on Native Bees of Greater Victoria, with an introduction on orchard mason bees. Sooke Gardening Club, R.C. Legion Building, 6726 Eustace Rd., Sooke, http://www.sookeregionresources.com/resource/sooke-garden-club April 25 7:30. Presentation on "Flower designs and how native bees work in concert with them".
An excellent article from the Sooke News Mirror newspaper: http://www.sookenewsmirror.com/lifestyles/147791345.html?c=y&curSection=/&curTitle=BC+Lifestyles&bc09=true "Flyer Flowers: An expert's take on bees", by Loretta Fritz. Horticulture Centre of the Pacific, annual Spring Plant Sale, April 28. I'll have an information kiosk set up about native bees. Saturna Island Parks, Friday May 18, Community Hall, 7:00. This will be a joint talk with Judy Myers from UBC who will be giving a talk on tent caterpillars, whereas I will be talking on native bees of Saturna Island.
A Celebration of Bees, Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary www.swanlake.bc.ca, May 27th 12:00-3:00. I'll have an information kiosk set up about native bees inside the centre. Glendale Gardens http://hcp.ca/ Saturday June 9, 1-3:00. Native Bees of Vancouver Island.
Dragonfly Watching at Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary www.swanlake.bc.ca/, Wednesday 7:00-9:00 July 11 classroom & Sunday 10:00-1:00 July 15 field trip. Biology and odonate diversity classroom session; field trip day we'll capture and release live dragonflies and learn the basics of identification.
Dragonfly Watching at CRD Parks, Beaver Lake Pond (around back to the west) www.crd.bc.ca/parks/elkbeaver/ July 28, 10:00-11:30. Capture and release live dragonflies and learn the basics of identification.
Victoria Compost Education Centre http://www.compost.bc.ca/ Saturday November 24, 2:00-4:00. Mason Bee Cocoon Extraction Using the Sand Cleaning Method - Level II. Vancouver Island Bee Keepers Association protest on the B.C. Legislative steps. They're mad about the B.C. Gov't's lifting of the honey bee, Van. Isle quarantine allowing bees to be shipped over from the lower mainland.
However, trying to say that "crops will fail on the island" and "disease will spread to our native species" because of these introduced honey bees from the mainland, is not accurate. Many of our native bees are in different families from honey bees for instance and they do a lot of pollinating and don't get the credit. Diseases, parasites and parasitoids won't spread across the families. The closest relatives that may have an issue are the bumble bees, Bombus spp. as they are another eusocial bee and they also belong to the same family APIDAE. Habitat loss is the key to saving native species. But to have the tradition of honey production and a clean source of queen bees for other places, is credibly under threat with this quarantine lift. There are entomologists, and then there are bee-keepers. Next Publication
To order copies, you can contact Nature Saskatchewan at 1-800-667-4668. They're working at getting it into Chapters/Indigo and McNally Robinson in Saskatoon. I will have limited copies at my dragonfly classes, presentations and book signings which I'm giving throughout northern B.C., Yukon and Alberta for July and August 2011. They're $24.95.
 "Dragonflies and Damselflies in the Hand: An Identification Guide to Boreal Forest Odonates in Saskatchewan and Adjacent Regions." , by G. Hutchings and D. Halstead. edited by Anna Leighton, published by Nature Saskatchewan.
From the Library and Archives Canada website http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/newbooks/g4-500-e.html
Hutchings, G. (Gordon), 1960-
Dragonflies & damselflies in the hand : an identification guide to boreal forest odonates in Saskatchewan and adjacent regions / G. Hutchings and D. Halstead. -- Regina : Nature Saskatchewan, 2011. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-921104-25-4 1. Dragonflies--Prairie Provinces--Identification 2. Damselflies--Prairie Provinces--Identification 3. Odonata--Prairie Provinces--Identification I. Halstead, David Alan, 1955- II. Nature Saskatchewan. III. Title. IV. Title: Dragonflies and damselflies in the hand. QL520.2 P7 H88 2011 595.7'3309712 1105 |
