Pollinator collection updates

Yesterday, between ten people at ten remnants, we collected…
68 pollinators!!
(That’s almost 70!)

A big thanks to all who participated. You had an impressive capture rate and recorded your vials flawlessly.

We will go out to collect again tomorrow morning, each person to a different randomly chosen site (I will post these on the flog later today). Please arrive at Hjelm House at 7:30 to synch visors and pick up supplies so that we can all begin observations at 8:00 AM. I will provide muffins and coffee.

Here are some updates to the pollinator collection protocol– please read them and jot them down (if necessary) on your printed protocol before going out tomorrow morning.

1) As you all noticed, the visor option for “pollinator observed” does not allow you to move on unless you provide a response. There are two methods for selecting either “yes” or “no”. What I would prefer that you do is click on the words “pollinator observed” and click either “yes” or “no” on the resulting screen. The other possible method is to check the box for “yes” or check and un-check the box for “no”, but this should only serve as a backup plan.

2) When entering your stopwatch time, please use a decimal between minutes and seconds. So, if it takes six minutes and twenty seconds for a pollinator to arrive, your entry should read “6.20”.

3) If you observe but do not capture a pollinator, enter the data for the observation, select “no” for “pollinator captured?” and move on to the next plant. Do not stay at that plant to wait for more pollinators.

If you have any other questions or helpful tips for tomorrow’s collection crew please write them in the comments and we will address them before tomorrow morning.

Thanks again, guys– I guess dreams really do come true.