Wild Bees in Blue Hill

Blue Hill, Maine - The Who Is in the Landscape? conservation lecture series in Blue Hill concludes on Monday, April 21 with “Wild Bees and Tame Bees–But Are They Healthy Bees?” by Dr. Frank Drummond, Professor of Insect Ecology at the University of Maine.  His presentation will focus on native bee conservation, pollination ecology, and pesticide exposure to honey bees.

This free program, sponsored by Blue Hill Heritage Trust and Downeast Audubon, will be held in the Howard Room of the Blue Hill Public Library with a reception from 6:30-7 pm and presentation and Q&A from 7–8 pm. Call BHHT at 374-5118 or visit bluehillheritagetrust.org for more information.

Dr. Frank Drummond has been interested in insects since childhood, and at the age of 13 he began keeping honey bees. He received his PhD in Biology in 1986 from the University of Rhode Island, during which time he and his wife Ellie ran a small commercial honey bee keeping business. Upon arrival that the University of Maine in 1988 as an assistant professor, he began studying native bees associated with lowbush blueberry, especially the Maine blueberry bee, Osmia atriventris. In the intervening 25 years, he has focused on native bee conservation; pollination ecology of lowbush blueberry, cranberry, strawberry and squash; foraging behavior of bumble bees and sand bees; and pesticide exposure to honey bees.

Recently Dr. Drummond has directed a national project investigating the causes of colony collapse disorder in honey bees, as well as a long-term USDA funded research project on pollination ecology of lowbush blueberry that involves 5 faculty and 9 graduate student researchers investigating native bees and honey bees in regards to pesticide exposure, landscape ecology, pollinator plantings, and economics and anthropology of pollination strategies. He is currently working on publishing a list of the bees of Maine.