Ep. 169 : Bumble Bee Recovery Program

Bumble Bees (genus Bombus) are a diverse genus of Bees. It can be a confusing process not only trying to decipher the genus of a Bee, but especially down to the species. Now how about trying to i.d. a increasingly hard to find species? Its hard. Its harder still to try and help these bees get back into the mating game, supporting their regeneration and helping them help reinhabit the places where their populations were once more common.
Tiffani Harrison is the conservation outreach and field biologist with Wildlife Preservation Canada. She and her teams have been surveying various sites across Canada in search of Bumble Bees, to gather Queens for the breeding Bumble Bee Breeding lab in efforts to learn more about how to support some seriously declining species.

Ep. 148 : Hazel Wheeler from the Eastern Loggerhead Shrike Recovery Program

Eastern Loggerhead Shrikes are an endangered species. Recent population analysis indicates that there may be only 50 breeding pairs remaining in Ontario. But there is work being done to help populations recover. Hazel Wheeler, lead biologist on the Eastern Loggerhead Shrike Recovery Program with Wildlife Preservation Canada has been helping to coordinate captive breeding programs to support the rearing, and release of thousands of Loggerhead Shrikes since 2003.
Hazel joins the show to talk about some of the natural history of the Eastern Loggerhead, along with detailing the recovery project and how they are working hard understand what impacts are affecting the populations, and what they are doing in the breeding programs to assist these amazing and endangered birds.