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Profs and Pints presents: “The Buzz on Bees,” with Sam Droege, biologist at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, developer of online identification guides to native bees, and guest lecturer at colleges and universities.
Bison and panthers are sadly long gone from the District of Columbia, but its wild bees live on gloriously. Nearly 200 species call D.C. its home, visiting cherry blossoms, wetland plants along the Anacostia, and our own backyards. Many hide in plain sight. You can step on or pass thousands of their nests every year without even knowing it.
Join Sam Droege, a nationally recognized bee expert, for a rich discussion that will leave you much more aware of these small denizens of the District. He’ll go way beyond discussing honey bees, and describe creatures such as the miner bee, which is building tubular nests in the earthen structures at the Native American Museum, the red-tipped cuckoo-leaf-cutter, a native of Egypt first found in the U.S. along the Anacostia River, and the squash bee, a visitor of pumpkin patches. He’ll tell bee stories, show gorgeous high-definition bee pictures, and suggest small steps you can take to help save bees and keep the honey flowing. He’ll be donating his proceeds from the talk to the Polistes Foundation, which provides support to scientific labs such as his own. (Tickets $10 in advance and $12 at the door. )
