Sam Droege

Exhibit: December 4-31, 2024

9:00am to 4:30pm (Wednesdays to Saturdays)

Sam Droege is a Wildlife Biologist in the Eastern Ecological Science Center in Laurel, Maryland—a profession his parents could have predicted when Sam was seven! He writes he was always interested in nature, and by that age, his parents were convinced. As a teen they wouldn’t find him at the mall, but in the woods. In high school he connected with the Maryland Ornithological Society where he met some Patuxent biologists. At the refuge he helped band and count birds – which eventually led to a “real” job. 

In 1980 at the University of Maryland, Sam earned a BA in General Biology; in 1985 at the State University of New York, Syracuse, a MS in wildlife management. Since then Droege has worked professionally for many organizations conducting wildlife research. Among these are Chesapeake Bay Center for Environmental Studies, SUNY Research Foundation, New York Department of Environmental Consevation and Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. The internet documents his service, publications, memberships, grants and stints as a guest reviewer. 

He has developed and coordinated a number of monitoring programs including Breeding Bird Survey, North American Amphibian monitoring, the Bioblitz, Frogwatch USA, and is currently developing techniques for monitoring and identifying native bees. He writes that he’d been working on related topics and found a lack of information about floral components used and visited by bees a real problem. 

His exhibit will consist of pollinated plants and amazing bee closeups made in the lab from 25-125 separate photographs!