www.jayhawkaudubon.

org

Volume 32, Issue 3 NOVEMBER, 2007

MONDAY, 11/26 TO BEE OR..?

INTELLIGENT DECISIONMAKING
in FORAGING HONEYBEES
Rudolph Jander, our November 26th speaker, is a professor in KU’s Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary
Biology. A native of Heidelberg, Germany, he studied bee behavior under Karl von Frisch receiving his PhD
from the University of Munich in 1957. Von Frisch, along with Konrad Lorenz and Nikolaas Tinbergen who
studied birds and fish, received the 1973 Nobel Prize in Medicine for ground-breaking behavioral research.
Dr. Jander came to Lawrence in 1971 with his wife Ursula and their three young children.

His presentation will begin with the spectacular discovery of dance communication in honeybees by von
Frisch. Then he will jump half a century to his current research discoveries, made in collaboration with two
graduate students and many undergraduates as enthusiastic participants. Dr. Jander sums
up his research paradigm this way: “We ask the bees what learned knowledge they use
in deciding what places to visit and in what sequence, while cruising around collecting
nectar.” When asked why he decided to study bee behavior, he responded “Why bees,
given that I also love to watch birds?....Bees and birds go together in providing endless
fascination, and abundant stimulation for scientific research.”
We will meet at 5:30 p.m. for a BYO dinner at Marisco’s Restaurant at the corner of 6th and
Waggle dance. Wakarusa in northwest Lawrence. Dr. Jander will speak at 7:30 p.m. at Trinity Lutheran
University of Church Fellowship Hall at 1245 New Hampshire St. Join us for the latest buzz on bees.
Ottawa, Canada
--Joyce Wolf

Black-footed Ferret Reintroduction Comment Period ends 11/19

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to hear from you. PLEASE SUPPORT AUDUBON of KANSAS’
effort to reintroduce Black-footed Ferrets, once thought extinct, to several Logan Cty. prairie dog colonies.
The landowners requesting this are committed to conserving their “dog towns” & the many species depending
on them for habitat and food. USFWS certifies that a reintroduction will not interfere with the rights of neigh-
boring landowners to eradicate their prairie dogs; i.e. neighbors should not fear federal action even if ferrets
move onto their land from the original reintroduction site. Send written comments by 11/19 to: Assistant
Regional Director, Fisheries-Ecological Services, USFWS, P.O. Box 25486, DFC, Denver, CO 80222-0486
or fax 303-236-0027. Copies of the Draft Environmental Assessment & application: http://mountain-
prairie.fws.gov/species/mammals/blackfootedferret/ or call 303-236-4256. A successful ferret reintroduction
will mean saving prairie dogs--and hawks and burrowing owls and swift foxes and more--from poisoning by
the county. Please take a moment to write. For more information: www.audubonofkansas.org.
 2 JAYHAWK AUDUBON SOCIETY
SHOP the DECEMBER
8th SEED SALE
for gifts that truly will keep giving all year by
feeding the recipient’s brain as well as their
birds. Seriously now, is there anyone on your
list who needs another sweater when you could
add the fun of bird feeding and watching to their
life instead?
NEW BOOKS for ADULTS
Backyard Birds and Bird Feeding – $9.95/($8.95
member price) This is a newly published book packed
full of facts about bird seed: which are best to use for
which birds, setting up water features, fascinating bird
behaviors, and preventing problems. All explained in
concise and vivid detail.
Silence of the Songbirds -- $24.95/($22.45 member
price) “Few scientists know migratory birds as inti-
mately as Bridget Stutchbury, who has followed them
with wonder and passion from the jungles of Costa
Rica and Belize to the hardwood forests of North
America.” —Scott Weidensaul, author of Living on
the Wind and Return to Wild America
KIDS’ STUFF
JAS will have several inexpensive stocking stuffers on
hand for our next seed sale, including sticker books,
coloring books, National Geographic guides for
Young Naturalists, Audubon post cards, and several
beautifully illustrated natural history story books.
FEEDERS
JAS will have our complete line of popular Droll
Yankee bird feeders for use with black oil sunflower,
thistle, chips, peanuts, suet, etc. We have also ordered
a new feeder which mounts directly onto your window
to bring the little birds up close – it retails for about
$15.00/($13.50 member price).
CALENDARS
We will be selling two different Audubon calendars –
a large wall calendar with absolutely stunning photo-
graphs of hundreds of songbirds and an engagement/
desk calendar with lovely landscape photographs.
Both retail for $12.99/($11.70 member price).
- Joyce Wolf
November,2007
Families Sing.
Mohawk Valley
Library System
Fly right in, Sit right down!
No waiting lines for the
EAGLE DAY COMMIT-
TEE
Next meeting: Tuesday 11/13.
7:00 p.m.
Ed & Cynthia Shaw’s 1635 Missis-
sippi
The committee will be working on fine tuning posters for
the event, distribution of advertising, and following up
CHAPTER NEWS:
OCTOBER SEED SALE:
Mother Nature smiled on the JAS Seed Sale on the 20th.
The sun was shining and so were the volunteers! Many
thanks to those who answered the call: Dave Chaffee,
Dana Adkins-Heljeson, Jon Standing, Sharon Ashworth,
Chuck & Ruth Herman, Bill Dodd, Ed & Cynthia Shaw &
Joyce and Ron Wolf with the books & feeders. We also
had Alyson Butler from Mrs. Ball’s freshman Biology
class at Southwest J.H. volunteering. Her hours counted
toward her E.O.Wilson project! - Linda Lips
JAS MEMBERS HONORED:
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has recognized Mike
Watkins and Marty Birrell for playing major roles in
reviving the Bald Eagle population in Kansas. Mike
works for the Corps of Engineers, but for many years has
spent off-duty time banding & monitoring eaglets. Marty,
nature interpretive supervisor at Prairie Park Nature
Center, is a wildlife rehabilitator and climbing assistant in
eaglet banding. Five other Kansans were also honored.
Bees on the honeycomb.
Ontario Beekeepers Association
 JAYHAWK AUDUBON SOCIETY November,2007 kids’ page 3

SURVIVOR--THE HIVE EDITION

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?? Kids get WAY TIRED hearing that.
BUT GUESS WHAT--NOBODY EVER ASKS A BEE THAT QUESTION because...
A HONEYBEE’S JOB IS DECIDED BEFORE IT IS EVEN BORN!!
HOW?? By the kind of egg it is and the food it is given as a tiny, growing larva.
(a larva is a baby insect, but it usually doesn’t look at all like the adults.)
THERE ARE THREE KINDS OF BEES IN A HIVE:
- One Queen: The Queen larva gets fed ROYAL JELLY
- A few hundred Drones: The Drones get BROOD FOOD. Brood
food is honey & water mixed with proteins
Workers make in their own bodies.
- Thousands of Workers:
Workers get BROOD FOOD too but they
British Beekeepers
Assoc. hatched from fertilized eggs. Eggs that
will be drones are unfertilized
ALL DRONES are BOYS. ALL WORKERS are GIRLS. THE QUEEN IS EVERYBODY’S MOTHER
YOW! Hundreds of brothers & thousands of sisters. Good thing they don’t have to share toys!
WHAT ARE THE JOBS BEES HAVE TO DO TO KEEP THEIR HIVE GOING??
Univ. of Maine
WORKERS ARE VERY BUSY. Their jobs change as they get older: Extension serv.

1-2 days old: Clean brood cells and keep hive warm
3-11 days: Feed larvae. (more than one larva = larvae)
12-17 days: Make wax, build honeycomb, remove dead bees from hive.
18-21 days old: Guard hive entrance. Will fight intruders to the death.
22+ days old: Flying out of hive begins. Forage to collect nectar & pollen. Pollinate plants.
DRONES have ONE job. They mate with new Queens and will be the fathers of a new hive.
But if you think you want to be a drone and laze around most of the time, THINK AGAIN!
After drones mate with a Queen they die. If they don’t get to mate, the workers kick
them out of the hive in the fall and then they freeze to death anyway. Hmmm….
QUEENS take a mating flight, then spend the rest of their lives laying eggs --as many as 2,000
a day in the summer! They also give off ‘pheromones’: chemicals that keep the hive calm.

BIG CHANGES from egg to adult bee:

 4 JAYHAWK AUDUBON SOCIETY November, 2007 kids’ page

QUESTIONS TO ASK: >What kind of flowers do the bees visit most in your garden or park?
>Do you see different size bees in your yard? Do you think these are
Why
go to did the b all honeybees? rrot?
the d ee an a talking pa
octo >Do you see bees outside in the winter? arte r th
What’s sm
A spel
r? ling be
>What do bees eat in the winter?
s! e!
ad hive
h
>YOUR QUESTION HERE?????
It

TAKE A GREAT FIELD TRIP: On the 6th floor of the KU Natural History Museum there is a
“bee tree” with a real live beehive. Visit now & in spring and summer
to see the “secret lives” of bees. www,nhm.ku.edu click exhibits, then beetree.

WANT TO LEARN MORE AND SEE COLOR PICTURES??

AT THE LIBRARY: The Life Cycle of a Honeybee, Bobbie Kalman. Crabtree Publishing 2004
The Magic School Bus: Inside a Beehive. Joanna Cole & Bruce Degen. Scholastic Press, 1996
Are You a Bee? Judy Allen & Tudor Humphries. Kingfisher Backyard Books, 2000
Bumblebees, Emily K. Green. World of Insects series. Bellwether Media, 2007
ON THE WEB: www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/bees
http://photo.bees.net/kids/beebuzz.html
www.bbka.org.uk/faq.php. Website of the British Beekeepers Association
 5
JAYHAWK AUDUBON SOCIETY November, 2007

Wild Douglas County MARK YOUR CALENDAR:

by Ken Lassman Ken will be JAS featured speaker in December.
7:30 p.m. 12/17. Trinity Lutheran, 1245 New Hampshire

The winter months are a great time to walk and observe nature. ...Now can also be a good time to start exploring your water-
shed. Watershed, in the American usage, means the section of ground that is joined in drainage by the same rivulet, creek, or river
(the British reserve the term “watershed” for the line that divides different drainage basins, but the creation of “watershed districts”
in this country has made the new usage acceptable). This is an exercise on thinking of how water connects the land in ways that
have real consequences and in ways important to other species besides ourselves. It is a new way of looking at the land.

Watersheds nest inside larger watersheds, which nest inside larger watersheds, ever expanding until you get out to the entire con-
tinent. Your yard may have more than one watershed, i.e. an area that drains into a different creek or rivulet than another part of the
yard. These micro-watersheds join into creek tributaries, which join together into creeks, which join together to make rivers. It is
analogous to our circulatory system, and, because we all live downstream, each parcel of land is fed by what flows in from up-
stream and in turn feeds that which is downstream. If your land is fed with toxic/excess nutrient runoff, soil erosion particulates
and trash, it is not able to function as well as if the soils and vegetation upstream are healthier. Similarly, how you treat your yard
contributes to the health of all who lie downstream from you.

But the first step to greater watershed awareness is finding out where your piece of the earth fits in. This can be done on foot, on
a bicycle, in a car, by looking at maps, or a combination of any of these. Start by following the slope of your yard and see where it
goes. Chances are, the initial downward slope will "bottom out" before you get to a creek. At that place, the low spot will typically
go across someone's yard, so you will need to make some guesses and try to pick up the trail where it crosses another sidewalk/
street. Sometimes, at the bottoming out point, there will be a storm sewer where creeks/tributaries have been encased in under-
ground culverts and drains. Once again, you can follow the low areas even if the creek is underground and it will eventually come
back out once it gets big enough.

The other part of the watershed, "upstream" can be explored the same way: on foot, on bicycle, in a car, using maps. Once again ,
the exercise is to see what area drains into your land, and where does it go. Once you have charted out your own little tributary,
then expand it out to see where that tributary drains into, and what part of town fits into that larger watershed, ever expanding until
it either gets to the Kaw or the Wakarusa River. Most creeks can be tracked indirectly because they often have trees lining their
banks, so all you have to do is follow the line of trees. Sometimes a map can be the best way to tease that out--a topographic map,
the Soil Survey maps, etc, and maybe sites like Google Earth can help. If you live in Lawrence, the storm sewer folks on the city
website have conveniently posted a map of all of the creeks in the city limits to compare your experiential map of your water-
shed: http://www.lawrencepublic works.org/pdf/watershed-map.pdf. Note: you need a current Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this.

As you are placing your yard in the watershed, pay attention to what you are seeing. Take notes. Print out the watersheds map,
take a topographic map and draw the boundaries of the watershed, then start to fill in the details. Include things that catch your
eye: a really nice tree, a patch of woods, some critters you see, some native grasses (hint: they are tall and coppery-orange this time
of year, in contrast with the deep greens of non-native cool season grasses. This is your watershed to explore at your leisure. Dive
in and spend as much time as you want, taking notes, realizing that this time of year is completely different from what you might
see after 2 weeks of back-to-back thunderstorms in June, or after a 4 week drought in September, or after a February cold snap.

By beginning to make these connections on a map and in your

mind, you are taking a small step toward re-connecting your yard to
the rest of the earth. You are finding one very real way to place
your real estate into a natural context, one that is not based on prop-
erty lines, city limits, and other human constructs. By becoming
aware of these real connections to the natural world, you also be-
come more aware of those natural connections in yourself, and the
larger context we all have as humans on this planet.
watershed
www.kk.org/
cooltools
 Jayhawk Audubon Society Nonprofit Organization
P.O. Box 3741 U.S. Postage
PAID
Lawrence, KS 66046 Lawrence, KS
Return Service Requested Permit No. 201
.1
a ki ng. P sert
onm In
e D ecisi le. P. 2 &
ybe Sa
2 6 : Hone ber Seed P. 5 s: P.
1
h11/ : Decem County: ed Ferret l day?
8 t l
h12/ Dougla lack-foo ees do a
s
il d r B do b
hW ak up fo h at s: P.2
S p e : W N ew
h ge r
K i ds’ Pa & Chapte
h ay
hEa
gle D

Application for New Membership in both: National Audubon Society and Jayhawk Chapter
___$15 Student; ___$20 Introductory for NEW members; ____$15 Senior Citizen.
(Make check payable to National Audubon Society.)

Application for Chapter-only Membership (Jayhawk Audubon Society). No Audubon magazine.

___$7.50 Chapter-only (Make check payable to Jayhawk Audubon Society.) Those with National Audubon
memberships are encouraged to support the chapter by voluntarily paying these dues. Chapter membership
expires annually in July.

National Audubon Society members receive four issues per year of the Audubon magazine and are also
members of the Jayhawk Chapter. All members also receive 10 issues of this newsletter per year and are
entitled to discounts on books and feeders that are sold to raise funds to support education and conservation
projects. Please send this completed form and check to Membership Chairs at the following address:
Ruth & Chuck Herman; 20761 Loring Road, Linwood, KS 66052; e-mail contact:
hermansnuthouse@earthlink.net . {National Members Renewing: please use the billing form received
from National and send it with payment to National Audubon Society in Boulder, CO}.

Name __________________________; Address ___________________________________________;

City ___________________________; State ______; ZIP Code (9) digit______________;

Telephone (with Area Code) ___________________

J02: 7XCH
Black-footed Ferret Recovery
Implementation Team