Science Friday - Spring Sounds, Luxury Ostrich Eggs, ISeeChange. April 10, 2020, Part 2

Episode Date: April 10, 2020

Enjoying Spring From Quarantine You may be trapped inside, but outside, it’s bird migration season. Flowers are blooming from coast to coast, and even the bees are out getting ready for a year of productive buzzing around.  Producer Christie Taylor talks to Atlanta birder and Birds of North America host Jason Ward, and Nature Conservancy land steward Kari Hagenow about the best ways to get started as a new birder under quarantine. Then, University of California entomology researcher Hollis Woodard takes us to the mountains of California, where bumblebee queens are just starting to emerge to start their colonies—and why bringing bees to your yard or windowsill this summer can be as joyful an act as birding.  The Luxury Ostrich Eggs Of The Bronze And Iron Age Upper Class In the Iron and Bronze age, one of the luxury goods of choice was to put a highly decorated ostrich egg in your tomb. These status symbols have been found in multiple European Iron and Bronze Age locations, despite ostriches not being indigenous to the area. A team of scientists wanted to know the origins of these eggs—and just how they made it from Africa into the hands of the Iron and Bronze Age elite. Mediterranean archaeologist Tamar Hodos, an author on the study recently published in Antiquity, explains how the team determined that these eggs came from wild ostriches, rather than captive birds, and what this reveals about the ancient luxury trade.  Citizen Scientists Are Helping Document Our Changing Planet Our community science continues this week with a project about how climate change touches neighborhoods and the people who live in them. Ira talks to Julia Kumari Drapkin, the CEO and founder of ISeeChange, about how citizen observations about rainfall, new spring flowers, and even how you feel can be valuable data for climate science—plus, how tracking that data benefits you. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

This is Science Friday. I'm Ira Flato. Just a note that we won't be taking your calls during this pre-recorded hour of the show. First up, when you want people to know that you've really made it, there are certain symbols or objects that you buy to show off, right? Could be a Rolex watch that cost as much as a down payment on a house. Could maybe be a garage full of cars, Ferraris, and Rolls, Royces. But back in the Iron and Bronze Age, if you wanted to flaunt your worth, you'd have a tomb full of carved ostrich eggs. Why, ostrich eggs, and how did you get your hands on one? That's what a team of scientists wanted to know. Their findings were published this week in the journal Antiquity.

Science Friday producer Alexa Lim spoke to Tamar Hodos, an author on that study and a specialist in Mediterranean archaeology at the University of Bristol in Bristol, England. Welcome to Science Friday. Thank you. I'm really delighted to be here. I guess my first question when I heard about these ostrichags is what were they doing with them? They weren't walking around with them in their arms, kind of saying, look at me right here I am. The ones that we find in the Mediterranean are almost always in funerary context. So they're turning up in graves. Some of them are incredibly ornately decorated. They were fashioned into cups or jugs. So they would have had metal fittings, metal attachments to them. But they were also. painted or carved with animal motifs, geometric motifs, floral motifs. Sometimes they show charioteers. So they're really ornately decorated. What we're not sure is exactly how they were being used. Were they being used as part of the funerary rituals? Or do they have some other additional, perhaps symbolic value? We really don't know. And it's likely to have differed from culture to culture. In the case of the ISIS tomb in the British Museum, which is the one that kind of kick-started the whole project, there were five.

So this is a really, really rich grave. So it was still like Iron Age and Bronze Age. Birdbling, though. Pretty much, yes, bird bling. I like that. And, you know, decorating eggs isn't only an Iron Age fad. You know, there were Russian czars that collected Faberge eggs. Easter is coming up.

I mean, you said there's even an international egg art guilt. Well, the ostrich egg carving is a popular activity in the United States, in particular North America, and also in the far east in China. There has been an Egg Crafters Guild of Great Britain, although sadly it closed down a few years ago because of dwindling interest, but it was very, very active for a number of years and they had competitions that they ran. I conducted an interview with the president of the Egg Crafters Guild of Great Britain because I wanted to learn more about modern egg carving practices. And what she told me was that an egg needs to be left to dry naturally once it's been blown, once it's been emptied. It needs to be left to dry naturally for at least six months and ideally up to two years before it's ready to be carved. and this was something I was unaware of before, but in terms of my interest in the production of these ancient ostrich egg as luxury items, that suddenly added a whole new dimension of the complexity of their production, manufacture process,

because it now adds a time element to it. You're not going to get a quick return from stealing your ostrich egg from the ostrich's nest. You now have to wait for it to dry naturally. You can't put it in the oven. You can't leave it out to dry in the sun. It needs to be left in stable conditions for an extended period of time. And that surely adds to its value status because now we know it takes a long time to make as well. Right.

And I do want to come back to that. One of the basic questions that you had in your study is, these eggs were found in Italy, but there aren't ostriches in that part of the world. Where were they coming from? That, in fact, was the underlying question that was driving this. Ostrich eggs in particularly the Iron Age in the first millennium BCE do turn up with, I guess I would say surprising frequency in elite contexts, in elite burials. Not only in Italy, but also particularly in Spain, a number have been recorded and elsewhere

across the Mediterranean in regions where ostriches are not indigenous. And it does raise a question of where they're coming from. Ostriches in antiquity were indigenous to North Africa and the Levant. Then they weren't penning these birds locally then? You had to get them where they were. No, no. There's no evidence that ostriches in this era were living in Italy. The eggs themselves were coming from somewhere along the eastern Mediterranean,

possibly North Africa. We conducted isotopic analyses to, look at the chemical elements that underpin the eggshell to determine past diet, past paleo environments. And what we were able to determine was that the eggs seemed to group into eggs laid in a cooler, wetter environment versus eggs laid in a hotter, drier environment. and the distinguishing line geographically turns out to be 30 degrees north latitude, which just cuts below the Nile Delta. So for the purposes of determining where these eggs in the Isis tomb came from,

unfortunately, we cannot yet distinguish between the Nile Delta and, say, the Phoenician homeland because they both are represented in that cooler, wetter, environmental condition. But the most startling discovery made in that regard was that just because you could source an ostrich egg locally doesn't mean you necessarily did. So in sites in the cooler wetter zone, we found occasionally an example of an egg that had been laid in the hotter dryer zone, or where the mother was in a hotter dryer zone during ovulation and vice versa. That adds a whole new level of questions about whether the raw eggs themselves, the unworked eggs, were those a source of trade in their own way. So this raises

a question of whether there was also a sense of value in eggs that came from a different region. You wanted to know if these were from domestic or wild ostriches. And you're study found that these came from wild birds. What does that tell you? Well, it tells us that they came from wild birds. But what that means is that somebody had to go and track the birds to find out or work out, establish where those nests were. And then they had to steal the eggs from the nest. An ostrich is an incredibly dangerous animal. They can kill you with a single kick. And their beaks are nasty. They're really sharp. So the ostrich was well known in antiquity to be an incredibly dangerous animal.

Many cultures talk about them as wild beasts. And so somebody had to go and track, somebody had to go and collect steel. And then there's this aspect of the eggs needed to be stored safely for an extended period of time before they would be ready for decoration. You had to be very experienced craftsmen to carve into these eggshells. What did you find out about the techniques that were used to make these eggs? We had bought a fresh ostrich egg, drained the egg, made a lot of cakes and kishes that kept us going for several days, and used a number of tools to try to replicate the smoothing and the polishing and the buffing,

as well as the incision marks. We were able to reproduce some of the marks that we could see, particularly under the scanning electron microscope. some of the motifs that we see, certain patterns that have been carved in some way, we are not entirely sure how they were made. We were absolutely unable to reproduce those. We have more work to be done in this regard. Okay, so you've figured out these origins of these decorated eggs. So what is this telling you overall about the network of bronze and Iron Age luxury items,

how things were flowing? There's a much more complex mechanism in luxury. production. We tend to think about the luxury objects from the perspective of their fine spots, which were with their users, their consumers if you want. So we find them in these luxury graves. And as archaeologists, we often use this to look at the status of the individual and regard it from the perspective of where it was found. But rarely have we considered the whole mechanism to produce such an object because you're not going to have an elite person going off and trying to steal eggs from a very dangerous animal. And the craftsmen themselves are, they're the craftsmen,

they're not the elites, but they're very highly skilled. And perhaps you needed someone who is a specialist in metal working to put those metal fixtures onto the vessel. And that may well have been a different person who was the artisan who was carving the egg or painting the egg because different skills are required. And so there's a whole class or variety of people involved in this wider luxury production industry if you want to call it that. I mean, it implies it's on a much bigger scale. And it affects many more people than just the final users. What other type of luxury is there during this time. Well, there's the most obvious that we would resonate with are metals, so gold and silver, but also ivory was a luxury item. Woods, there were luxury woods,

ebony wood, cedar wood, cedars of Lebanon, we recognize now. So there are a whole host of other organic luxuries. Giant clamshells, tradacna shells that originate from the Red Sea are found in the Mediterranean, particularly during the first millennium, they were also carved and painted. We believe they were used as cosmetic containers. But again, that's another piece of evidence of the far-reaching exchange trade mechanisms and that highly skilled artisanship of ancient craftsmen and then this connection to luxury desire by elites. If you were going to decorate your tomb, which one would you choose. Oh, that's a really good question. Oh, I don't know if I could choose. You'd have them all. I'd have them all. Absolutely. I'd have them all. Thanks so much for joining us. Thank you very much for

having me. Producer Alexa Lim, speaking with Tamar Hodos, a specialist in Mediterranean archaeology at the University of Bristol in England. Hey there. Ira here, you know, as the world continues to adapt due to COVID-19, getting accurate information is crucial to protecting ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities. This is where Science Friday comes in. We are here to deliver the facts to combat misinformation, to have the right conversations with trusted experts who offer a unique voice in this confusing noise of news. Our goal is to get you the information you need. But you know, We can't do this alone. Science Friday depends on donations from listeners just like you. So please, if you can, I'm asking you to help to chip in a few dollars right now to support our programming.

Go to ScienceFriiday.com slash donate to make a donation. Every little bit helps. Again, that's sciencefriiday.com slash donate. Stay safe, stay healthy, and thanks. This is Science Friday. I'm Ira Flato. Guess what? It's spring. And now, depending on where you're isolating yourself, you may not be feeling it. I understand. Maybe you're in a dense city, or you're just not getting out to your usual spring strolling spots. Well, thankfully, some of our listeners and friends of this show have come to your rescue. I'll show you what the birds sound like on my porch.

It rained last night, so they're extra happy. I'm hearing frogs. They're back. From a distance, you know, when you see blue bonnet, it's pretty fun because it really does look like water. You know, you just have that blue sheen. It almost looks like an oasis or a mirage. And my favorite sound of the spring is the gray tree frog. Whistle tones by what I believe is a Stellar's J recorded on March 11th.

The return of spring is such a welcome thing, especially this year. Special thanks to SciFright friends Kathleen Davis, Ryan Mandelbaum, and Andrea DeLongam Maya. Plus listeners, Bethany from Michigan, Doug from Texas, Melissa from Pennsylvania, and Barbara from California. Thank you all for your contributions on the Science Friday Vox Pop app. Plus the birds in my own backyard. Yeah, thank you. And one aspect of spring that's in particular full bloom right now, and no, I'm not talking about the flowers, are the birds. Yes, it's spring migration, and the birds are wending their way from places far south to their summer breeding and feeding grounds. And best of all, they're likely just flying past your window.

They come to you. And for more than why birding is the perfect activity for physical distancing, producer Christy Taylor talked to two birders earlier this week. Atlanta birder and educator Jason Ward, host of the YouTube series Birds of North America. and Carrie Haganow, land steward for the Nature Conservancy of Wisconsin's Dore County Preserve. Welcome to Science Friday, both of you. Thank you. Thanks for having us. Thank you for having you.

Yeah, so Jason, let's start with you. You're based in Atlanta. How is the birding right now? So right now in the entire southeast birding is at an all-time high. It is a time where approximately 20 billion birds are starting to make their way from South America, northward. And luckily for us, you know, they visit the southeast first. So we are right on the cusp of peak spring migration. And Carrie, you're based in Wisconsin.

Are you seeing that spring migration as well? Yeah. So we're seeing just the start of our spring migration. That big movement of birds that Jason was talking about in the southeastern United States will hit our neck of the woods around the beginning and middle of May. So we patiently await that, but in the meantime, we have a lot of our early spring migrants that may be overwintered in Atlanta or the area. Some of those are just starting to trickle in to their breeding grounds here in Wisconsin. So some of our earliest are, of course, the American Robbins.

Those here are kind of the heralds of spring for us. But following not too far after them, we see things like Eastern Phoebe's, which is a type of flycatcher. and then the first of our warblers, which is the yellow rumped warbler, which, again, people kind of harold as an early sign of spring, seeing as it's our first warbler species to arrive. Oh, that's beautiful. Jason, what about you? You get to go out to the park still? Are you seeing anything that you love?

It's interesting because, you know, seeing where Carrie is, as far as the birds that she's starting to see, we're starting to see those birds leave, right? So yellow rumped warblers are starting to become a lot more vocal. down here, they spend the winter in the southeast. So we see them all throughout winter. And look, we love birds. I love all the birds. But at around April-ish, we're starting to get tired of seeing yellow ant warblers all the time. So now that they're starting to leave and go further north, it makes, it allows for other neotropical birds kind of join the party. So we're starting to see prairie warblers. I saw about three of them today. We're starting to see northern perula.

Louisiana water thrush, and chimney swifts are back as well, and all of the swallows have returned. And soon enough, the wood thrush will follow and all of the rest of the migrants shortly afterwards. Why is now the time for new people, new birders, to get out enjoying them or stay put and enjoy them as maybe the case for many of us? For us here in Wisconsin, with kind of this trickle in of early migrants, it's not as overwhelming. as maybe that big flush of birds that we'll see in early in Min Bay. So you can kind of pick up on one or two new birds every few days, and that makes it maybe less discouraging or frustrating when there's so many birds that you maybe don't know how to ID out there.

The other thing that I'd say is that, you know, we're all kind of cooped up in a unique situation here and really sticking to our own backyards for birding. And that can be to our advantage in that the habitat you have in your yard might only attract a certain amount or certain kind of species. So again, you have fewer birds to start with that you're IDing. That was an excellent point about the fact that everyone is home. So if you are seeing something in your yard and you want to know what it is, I know myself, I'm a big time contributor to the Facebook group, What's This Bird? and that group has over 40,000 members.

And how it works is you know, you post a photo of a bird or an audio clip and someone will identify it in about 10 seconds for you. So that's how quick the response is there. And in addition to that, to kind of piggyback off of the everyone's staying home thing, the great thing about it is, no matter where your home is, there are birds there. That's the beauty of birds in comparison. to the, you know, the other types of animals out there. Is that no matter where you are in the U.S. or in Europe or all over the globe,

there are birds around your backyard or in your front porch or you can see them out your window if you live in a tall building? And so you don't have to travel in order to see them. They will come to you. And then you can do things to kind of make sure that they stick around for a little longer as well. I have another question for both of you. Our listener, Lillian, sent this note on our Science Friday Voxpop app.

We've had several days of rain here, and I was getting really down. And yesterday morning, I got up, and while it was still overcast, it wasn't actively raining. But the way I knew that spring was coming, for sure, was the birds. The birds were out there singing up a storm, and it made me feel so happy. Jason, why do birds bring so much joy to people? Because they're the best animals on the planet. But, you know, I think it's the fact, especially during this time of year, right, it's, they're constantly putting on a show.

And some of that is because the males have to, right? So we're witnessing, where we're bearing witness to this show that these birds are putting on. Their plumage is perfectly constructed, right? So they're in there, they look their best. And they're singing these wide array of these beautiful songs. and some of them even have little funny displays that they do along with the songs that they sing. And then it's the flight part about it as well. It's the fact that these birds are capable or they're able to achieve this magical thing such as flight.

And no matter where you are in the country, you know that this prairie warbler just traveled right across the Gulf of Mexico and landed in your backyard. So there's a magical quality. to birds in general no matter what time of year it is. The birds can travel even though we can't, which is one way of traveling in some ways. That's true. We can live vicariously through them. Carrie, what about you?

What brings you joy about birds? How do I top that summary that Jason just gave? I would say, again, talking about from our perspective in the Midwest here, birds can herald the change of seasons for us. I think right now that's a big source of joy in that we've survived another long, long Wisconsin winter and the robins are back and they're going to bring warm sunshine with them. So I think for us that's one big thing. But otherwise, I would say when I'm out with people who are beginning birders or who are unfamiliar with birds, just seeing the looks on their faces

when you show them a bird that they didn't even know existed. We have more than 400 species that can be seen in the state. Some people maybe only know three of them and realizing that there is a whole wealth of diversity and color and courtship patterns and dances and all of these things that these birds do, it just opens up a whole new world to you that you maybe didn't know existed. Are there any specific birds you haven't seen yet that you're really hoping come through your yard this year, Carrie? We have not at my house seen the first of the warblers yet. So I'm patiently awaiting our yellow-rumped warblers. We see anywhere between 20 and 28 or 29 species of warblers come through the small area of Wisconsin where I live. Everyone is more beautiful than the next.

He mentioned northern Perula before, which is one that I will be anxiously awaiting as well of our warblers that breeds up here. Jason, what about you? So I'm a hardcore birder, and I have seen a decent number of birds. So as far as, you know, birds that I haven't seen yet that I'm hoping to see, there's this one bird that has been evading me no matter where I go. And I'm always seconds or minutes away from someone else just seeing it. And that bird is the golden eagle. Golden Eagles, they typically, they don't really stick to the southeast pretty much.

So when someone does see them, it is a pretty big deal. The only bad part about that is golden eagles don't really stay still for a long period of time. So if someone sees them, the chances are that that bird is hundreds of miles away the next day. So, you know, occasionally it's good to, sure, look into the shrubs, look into the trees. But sometimes it's good to just watch the skies and see what may fly over. I have a question, Jason, for you. I know you're someone who goes out birding with other people quite often and you're an educator. Is it harder now to bird the way you would want to at this point?

It is. It is. There's something about the sense of community for me that really makes birding special. I got into burning, of course, for the birds, but I stay and I am enriched often because of the community. And so not being able to visit bird birding festivals or lead birding trips locally has been pretty tough. But where there's a will, there's a way. So I've turned to social media to kind of get that aspect up and running. So instead of physically leading a group, I'm virtually leading a group. So I'm going live on Twitter or on Instagram. and I am allowing the viewer at home to bird with me.

You know, I have a phone adapter on my phone that I can put to my spotting scope, and you can see a bird full screen really large, just as if you're looking at it with your binoculars. So we can, it's the next best thing close to leading actual physical bird wall. Jason, that is really cool. And maybe I'll also add that if you start exploring online, there are many, many nest cams and bird cams where you can get up close and personal looks at some of these birds nesting and rearing their young.

For example, our university here in Green Bay, Wisconsin has a cam right now that is on a pair of peregrine falcons that is nesting on the library of the university. And day by day, they watch them. They've got a few eggs in their nest now. And it's really an exciting way to connect with those birds over the internet and very. I'm going to make sure that I watch that because that's the best bird ever on the planet. So I'm going to do that right after we sign off here. Pausing to remind everyone that this is Science Friday from WNYC Studios. I'm Christy Taylor. And we're talking about birds and birding in the time of physical distancing. I have a bit of a curveball for you. And that's one of my favorite spring

sounds, which is not a bird. But it is these peeper frogs and actually chorus frogs to someone actually sent me this sound from Wisconsin, things to Nick Miller from also the Nature Conservancy. Are there any other nature sounds and sights besides birds that you are missing out on experiencing right now that comes with birding usually for you? I do love the spring peepers. And for us, wood frogs have just chimed in up here. One of the things that goes hand in hand with birding for me is really our spring ephemerals, our wild flowers that are coming out at this time of the year, and again, just kind of give you the sense of renewal and peace after a long winter. And, you know, for us, some of those like trout lilies or marsh marigold are just starting to come out,

our hepatica, which are these small, delicate flowers. And those really bring, again, that sense of spring for me when we have these really gorgeous blooms of spring ephemeral. The southeast is known for these just mature old growth forest. And when you're deep into those forests looking for birds, you often are greeted with continuous drowning sound of cicadas. And that's something that I'm probably going to miss a little bit on an everyday basis by not being able to visit certain kinds of forests here in the southeast.

In the last time that we have, any last advice for people who want to enjoy birds right now in whatever way that they can. Birding can seem maybe overwhelming if you're a beginning birder, but like I said, there are so many resources online, people who are available to help you. I will give one last plug for something called eBird, which is a great way to record your bird observations. But it's also a great way, if you're a beginning birder, to see what other people are seeing right around you and to pull up a list of birds.

again, that I've actually been seen right there. Again, really tune into some of these resources that are available and don't get discouraged if you can't ID something or if binoculars are hard to use for a first time. I totally agree. I think that in addition to that, remember that there's no right way to go birding. As long as you are burning and having fun, you're doing it the right way. It's as simple as that. In addition to that, if you're getting cabin fever and you really want to get the experience as if you are traveling and exploring, I highly recommend certain fun Facebook groups like Google Street View birding where individuals in that group basically comb Google Street View. And they try to find birds that have been captured by accident on those cameras.

And there's a running list and tally of all of the birds that have been seen in that group. And it's kind of interesting to kind of challenge yourself and teleport yourself to a different country to try to find one of the target birds for the day. There's also fantasy birding out there as well for those who like the competitive aspect. And it's relatively new, but it's also growing in popularity. And then, of course, shameless plug, binge watch, Birds of North America. Of course, all 20 episodes are available on YouTube and on topic.com. And, yeah, you'll be catapulted right into a birding experience led by me, the host. Thanks so much for being with us today.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Producer Christy Taylor talking to Atlanta-based birder and educator Jason Ward and Landstuart Kerry Haganow based in DePier, Wisconsin earlier this week. If you want more sites and sounds of spring, check out our website. We've got photos and more at Science Friday.com slash spring sounds. After the break, from the birds to the beautiful buzzing bumblebees,

why you should look for native pollinators in your yard. This is Science Friday. I'm Ira Flato. We've been talking about the birds, but of course, what about the bees? Bumblebee researcher Hollis Woodard at the University of California Riverside normally spends her spring catching queens so she can study their life cycles. In the time of coronavirus, though, she's still finding ways to appreciate these native pollinators, and she thinks you can too.

Sci-fi producer Christy Taylor caught up with her earlier this week. Hey, Hollis, welcome back to Science Friday. Hi, thanks so much for having me. So what are the bumblebees up to right now? It depends a little bit on where you are, but I'll give you the report from California. So things are starting to bloom here. One of the key plants that the bumblebees love is here is Manzanita. And it's up at slightly higher elevations than where we are down in Riverside.

But it starts to bloom this time of year. And bumblebee queens start to come out and forage on it. So you can stand at a patch of blooming Manzanita and just wait. And if you wait long enough, sometimes not that long at all. you'll start to hear this pretty loud buzzing sound, and then there are these huge queens that will fly in and start foraging on it. So it's pretty special. This will start to happen in other parts of the country at different times.

We're pretty early here in California. So other parts of the U.S., it's probably what's not happening yet. And the plants that the bumble bees might visit will be different. But in every region of the U.S., there are these early blooming plants that the bumblebee queens will visit. and they're visiting these to get food resources so that they can start their nest and feed their offspring. And you're not actually able to be up there right now watching these bees, right? I'm homebound here in Riverside. But I do have a student that lives up in the mountains where Manzanita is,

and she's starting to see bees coming out and foraging on it. I assume your research has had to adapt a little bit to this time of isolation and staying at home. What are you having to do now? Well, we're pretty much completely out of the lab. We're only allowed to finish up a few things in the lab. So everything's moved online. We're analyzing a lot of data and reading papers and doing things like that. And then our project that we started last year where we go all over California and collect bumblebees and to see how trends differ across the state, that's something we're not able to do this year. But one thing one of my students is do, the student that lives up in the mountains is she's going to be collecting some queens and rearing them in her basement so that she can get some colonies going and try to run some sort of simplified experiments with these wild bees. So she's going to be quarantining with bees in her home. Are they good company? Yeah, they're super fun. There's a long history of people catching wild bumblebees and rearing them in their home.

So some of the best early bumblebee work involved that kind of practice. There are a lot of things you can learn by catching these queens. And if you get the queens, which are only out early in the season, you can put them in a box, keep them sort of warm and toasty, and give them the food that they need. They will start a nest in your boxes. And so you can study all kinds of things about their behavior and their nesting biology by doing this. I know that we are facing kind of a global period of threat to pollinators of all kinds, including native bees.

what kind of help can research like this give them? Well, when it comes to bumblebees, one of the things that we know the least about is this early nesting stage. So we think that a lot of bumblebee queens, so they overwinter, so they have to live through the winter typically underground in a state of diapause. And then they come out in the spring and they have to start their nests. We actually know very little about the diapause period, but also about this period when they're starting to get their nests going. So people who collect queens and study things about their early nesting biology can really contribute to our understanding of a stage that we think is really important. Well, we know it's very important for Bumobi survival.

And we think it's one of the stages where a lot of queens sort of fail because at this stage, they're trying to do a lot of different things. They're out foraging. They're getting their nests going. They're becoming reproductive and laying eggs. And it's kind of a lot for a bee to pull off on our own. Later on, she'll have helpers to help her do a lot of this stuff. But at this early nesting stage, these queens are trying to, they're single moms and they're trying to do a lot of work on their

own. And we think it, unfortunately, is a time when a lot of bumblebees end up sort of failing in that endeavor. And we lose a lot of genetic diversity, for example, from the populations. Yeah. You said the bumblebees are kind of on their own trying to do everything for themselves right now, no community that feels very familiar to me right now. It totally does. The bumblebees are definitely. a metaphor for us right now. We were talking about birdwatching earlier, and one of the things I'm really wondering is how we can also do some bee watching this time of year. Is that something that you have advice for? I would say this is a great pastime for people to engage in now if they haven't before,

or if you have, one of the great things you can do is plant things in your yard, and, you know, if you build it, they will come. If you plant things that bumblebees or other bees or other pollinators like to visit, they will come visit your yard. So you can bring them to you by planting the food resources that they need. So it's really a win-win, honestly. You get to see them and you can help them out by giving them some food resources. So it depends on where you are, what you might want to plant. There are some plants that grow locally. And if you plant those, you might get some really unusual native local species, but you can also plant different types of plants that are more sort of generally attractive to pollinators and you can get all kinds of things visiting those.

And you say different bees. It's not just one bumblebee we're talking about, is it? Oh, yeah. No, there are about 250 species in the world. Here in Riverside, I've seen four different species, but we're sort of a hotter, more desert area. If you live in cooler, or more northern parts of the U.S., you can get a lot more species. For example, across California, we find 25 species, especially more like in the coastal areas and in the north. So you could get a lot of different bumble bee species potentially coming to visit you. And then there are all the other bees. So you'll probably get honey bees almost no matter where you are. Those are non-native. But there are a lot of different types of native bee species too that you can attract. So

the sort of general rule is the more stuff you plant, that's be attractive. the more species you'll probably see showing up. Do you have a favorite bee species? Ah, well, bumblebees are my favorite. You already knew that. We get a species here, Vazazzynski, that's really beautiful. It's this mostly black bumblebee that has a little bit of yellow coloration, and they're just a very attractive bumblebee.

So I really like those. I really like some of the more northern species that you find. But I went to Alaska at one point and got to see some of these species up in the Arctic tundra. So there's a subgenus of bumblebee that lives up there. Wait, bees in the Arctic tundra. Well, so bumblebees evolved in the Tibetan plateau, we think, and they're more cold adapted. So this is one of the things that's really special about them is they can come out really early in the season and they can live in really cold places. So bumblebees even live up in the high Arctic, more in northern areas than any other bee can exist.

So you get these giant bumblebees living up in the Arctic that are just beautiful. They're huge and they're really pretty. Wow. And they'll fly around and because it's tundra and there aren't a lot of tall plants there. You can just kind of see them zooming around the landscape. What do you love so much about bees that you would encourage other people to see and enjoy? I love all insects. But bumble bees, I think, and other bees do with.

good job of helping people appreciate insects, I think more than some people might otherwise. So, you know, they fly around. They're really charismatic. They visit flowers. They've captured people's sort of imaginations and hearts, I think more than some other insect groups, even though these other insect groups might also be worthy of that. I think bumblebees and other bees are really good sort of gateway insects for getting really excited about the little critters that live in your yard and elsewhere. What are you looking forward to be wise if you are able to go back to the field this summer? Yeah, we're really hoping that we can still get out towards the end of the season. Bumblebees have a pretty long nesting season. So even if we miss the Queens, which makes me very sad, we can still

get out there and study workers, especially in higher elevation places. So we're hoping to get out to the sierras to some of the high montane areas so that we can still see bumblebees out foraging and visiting flowers. And we can do. some of the collections that we'd hope to do throughout the entire season. Maybe in August, maybe sooner, if we're really lucky. Thank you so much, Hollis, for being with us. Yeah, thanks for having me. I appreciate it. That was producer Christy Taylor talking to Hollis Woodard, assistant professor of entomology at the University of California at Riverside. While you're out celebrating spring in whatever way you can, we have a fun job for you. April is also

citizen science month. And guess what? That refreshing spring rain, that delightful bumblebee buzz, that warbler on the tree next door, well, all of these are data. They're not just any data, they're climate data. IC Change is one of our citizen science partners this month, and they're asking you to tell them almost anything, anything you see here around you as spring unfolds and here to explain and tell us why and how is IC Change CEO and founder Julia Kumari Drapkin. Welcome to Science Friday. Thanks for having me. Nice to have you. All right, give us a little thumbnail sketch. Introduce us to IC Change. What is it? What are you asking for? How do we send it? Sure. So IC Change is a platform. We mobilize communities to share stories and microdata about

climate change impacts to inform climate adaptation and infrastructure design and to help people to understand change in their own backyard. We combine this real-time data with sensor. networks and other kinds of data to illustrate community scale trends. And it's as easy as logging on to ICChange.org or downloading our app, ICChange tracker on iPhone or Android. It's a place where people have come together to learn how climate change is impacting them as individuals and where communities can come together as a network and learn how to have impact. And this would seem like it would be a great time, spring, right? There's a lot of stuff going on out there to see. Oh, absolutely. Spring is when in so many ways the clock starts for the growing

season and really has impacts for the rest of the year. It really is one of the most important times because it's not just about when flowers are blooming. It's when maybe my allergies are starting up. It's when the plants are starting to use water. And we can start to see impacts throughout the rest of the year when it comes to spring melt, when it comes to drought, wildfire seasons. Even West Nile virus, you can look and see, was there an early spring? Did we get dry weather? Was there an early spring? Did we get wetter weather? We have a lot of other kinds of things that are happening this year alongside in early spring, a record-breaking spring in the south, in particular. We have lots of warmer water in the Gulf that is going to combine with early warming and early

spring and maybe create different kinds of weather patterns. And those weather patterns impact the environment, but they also impact us. And we are fundamentally a part of the environment. So one of the things we ask people is not just tell us the flowers are blooming, but how is it impacting you? Yeah. So some of these things are specific things you want people to tell you that they saw or heard. Like could be, hey, I see migrating birds or there's a bird that usually comes some other time of the year it's here now or one I don't recognize. Yeah, we really pay attention to changes, you know, that you think are normal, but also the ones that you're just like, hey, I've never seen this before. I've never seen this species before. I don't remember this happening at this time

in this place at this magnitude or intensity. So I don't remember it, you know, for example, flooding on this particular block in this particular place. Those first time observations are incredible data points. Often when you say I've lived here my whole life and I've never seen this before, it's an indication in our team and in our database that we pay attention to for other environmental trends. Amira Flater, this is Science Friday from WNYC Studios. I want to get back to some of the feedback we are getting from our listeners who went to our Science Friday Voxpop app and we got some feedback here. Kevin who sent us this observation of spring. We've seen flowers blossoming.

I would say we saw the crocus, the daffodils, and a herb called the bittercress. So he's seen this. He's told us he has seen it. What do you do or what do scientists now do with this data? Well, one of the things you can do is make sure you take data, picture, tell us a story in the same location and then come back to that location next year. And if you do this over time, then you start to create. create incredible records just for you, but also records that you can share with the wider science community, with the wider adaptation community. Again, when the spring starts, that's when

the growing season goes. And we can start to model out, okay, what other kinds of trees are going to be blossoming or putting out pollen? When trees in our, you know, are shedding leaves, what does that do for your stormwater infrastructure? So it's not just the one kind of thing that you can observe, but all the cascading events around it. So we know about this, we've reported on it, where does it wind up? Where does it get used? How do we see it later on? Well, there's many ways you can use it. So if you are an individual, you can track it for yourself and you can have your own personal record. On IC Change, we kind of collect the records together and we look at temperature data, we look at precipitation

data and we're actually developing some AI in the next couple of months to kind of look at trends that we can then return on in value to the users who are posting over time. Scientists can use this data to track spring onset moving early and earlier and earlier. It's been estimated that spring is advancing 17 miles north per day on average. So if you think about it every year, that's really going to change what you're seeing in your backyard over time. I know in my neighborhood in New Orleans, I've been tracking Sylvania, a giant sylvania that's clogging up waterways in the south. And it's because there's really no frost that can come in and wipe them out in the way that they would normally

experience every year during the winter. We know that stories are actually data in of themselves. That's what we as journalists know. And every story doesn't have to be just the one-off story. We can gather our stories and use them in many, many ways, just the way science has been using data in many, many ways. Well, we wish you and our listeners good luck in this terrific project. Check it out. It's science friday.com slash citizen science. You can learn more about IC change. You can register to participate and check out some of our other partner projects for Citizen Science Month.

Julia, thank you so much for taking the time to be with us today. I appreciate it so much. It's good to talk to you. Julia Kamari-Dropkin is CEO and founder of the Citizen Science Project IC Change. That's about all the time we have for this hour. If you missed any part of this program, or we'd like to hear it again, subscribe to our podcasts or ask your smart speaker to play Science Friday. Every day now is Science Friday.

You can always say hi to us on social media, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or email us. The address is SciFri at ScienceFri.com. And on the Science Friday Voxpop app, talking about the emotional adaptations, climate change is requiring of us. For example, are you sad or anxious or mad or what about rising seas, melting pole ice? Is it harder to think about it in a pandemic? We want to hear about it from you.

That's on the Science Friday Vox Pop app wherever you get your apps. Have a safe and peaceful weekend. I'm Ira Flato.