Great Sunflower Project 2009

It's time again to sign up for the Great Sunflower Project, which tracks bee visits to a particular species of native sunflower (helianthus annuus) which will be planted by volunteers all over the country to help gauge the health of wild bee populations. This year, organizers are collecting addresses of volunteers quite a bit earlier than they started last year, so with any luck we'll all get our seeds early.

If you'd like to participate -- volunteers plant sunflowers, then on a specified date or dates throughout the summer count the number of bees that visit one of their flowers over a period of 30 minutes and report their findings back via an online form -- visit the project's website and sign up!