​Dr Delano heads up invertebrate research project at Ellis Bird Farm

​Dr Delano heads up invertebrate research project at Ellis Bird Farm
Thanks to funding from the Red Deer and District Community Foundation, Ellis Bird Farm is partnering with Dr. Delano Lewis of Burman University to study invertebrates and pollinators on the farm. This important three-year project will study the population and diversity of insects in various habitat areas around the farm, giving us a better picture of our insect fauna. 

​Several different collection methods will be used, including bee bowls, pitfall traps, Hester-Dandy samplers, fecal samples taken from Mountain Bluebird and Purple Martin droppings (which will be studied for insect DNA) and opportunistic captures. Dr. Lewis will be assisted in his efforts by summer student, Ben Acorn. The traps will be checked multiple times over the summer and the types and numbers of invertebrates will be recorded. This research should reveal to us a cross-section of the insects living in the air, on the soil and in the water at Ellis Bird Farm.  Interviews about this project can be found here.  VIDEOS HERE

Finally, I feel I need to include a caveat that this is amateur footage. I am not a videographer and these videos are primarily for social media use, so please excuse the background noise and any shakiness.