We are thrilled by the success of our one-day bee biology and identification course delivered in Nanaimo last month. Coined Mini Bee School, and delivered with the support of BC Nature and the BC Naturalists' Foundation, this one day workshop was offered as an introductory level version of our very comprehensive BC Native Bee Course held in Penticton over the course of 5 days.
The 15 participants were taught by our very knowledgeable Bonnie Zand with Jade Lee as a teaching assistant for the day. The course was also the first public appearance of one of our new resources! Created and designed by Jade, with research help from Bonnie, these 12 full page resource sheets for identification of some of the most commonly seen bee genera in BC were a hit with our participants. This amazing resource is now available on our resources page for anyone interested in using them to become more familiar with BC’s native bees.
During the course Bonnie talked about the biology and identification features of each genera at length, and the students were then able to look in detail at bee specimens using digital microscopes purchased with support from BC Nature. Bonnie also covered some of the other vitally important information about our BC native bees like where to find them, what puts them at risk, and best practices for how to support them in our gardens.
Everyone had a great time, and we received a lot of great feedback for future iterations of this workshop. In fact, we had so much fun that the course will be coming to the Kootenays on July 19th! So keep your nose to the ground -- not just to look for bees --but also to hear from us about more upcoming events!
Photos by Jade Lee Interested in Mini Bee School but bummed to find out you missed the one in Nanaimo? Register for Kootenay Mini Bee School Hosted by Bonnie Zand and the NBSBC in partnership with the Kootenay Native Plant Society! https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/6dd039e0-275d-4091-a4ad-ab806753377a?viewed_as=organization
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