Bumble Bee Watch Update
July 2015
You're reading the first edition of what will be a monthly newsletter from us here at Bumble Bee Watch. Since launching in January of 2014 we have been busy improving user experience with the site and working hard to verify the large number of photos that were submitted.


2014 Highlights:

  • Nearly 5,000 people have registered and just over 4,500 observations have been submitted.
  • We had observations from all 49 states with bumble bees (Hawaii has no bumble bees) and from 11 Canadian provinces and territories.
  • So far from our 2014 data, we have verified 37 different species of bumble bees, including several rusty patched bumble bees (a species of special conservation concern)!
  • We may be documenting the establishment of the common eastern bumble bee in western Canada and Washington state. 

 

These data far surpassed our expectations for our first year. We are admittedly still behind in our verifications, and apologize for our slow response time. We're doing better with keeping up with our 2015 observations, but still owe many of you verifications from 2014. Rest assured, we are still working our way through them, and will make good use of all of those precious data. We truly appreciate the time that everyone has taken to submit observations. What a tremendous response -- thank you!


This year is also off to a great start. Through early June, you submitted over 1,100 photos, and we've already verified 32 species from 37 states and 9 Canadian provinces. We look forward to seeing more of your photos as the summer presses on!


Thanks so much for a great first eighteen months of Bumble Bee Watch. All of these observations will help us to better understand bumble bees and their distribution, and they will aid us in better targeting our conservation efforts. Please keep those observations coming, and we'll stay busy behind the scenes with verifications and updates! 

In Your Garden

Lavender is starting to bloom all over the continent, and makes a great platform on which to photograph bumble bees. Often you will find several species foraging on the blossoms at one time, and individual bees will often stay on one floral spike for a long time -- giving you a prime chance to snap a high quality photo. You may also find male bumble bees hanging out on the blossoms, sometimes even staying there overnight!

 
In the Colony

This time of year, most bumble bee species have a well-established nest and are quickly gathering resources to continue building the colony. Workers are busy foraging, while the queen stays occupied in the nest laying eggs, tending to her brood, and keeping things in order. The colony may be starting to produce their first gynes (new queens that will form next year's colonies) and males. If you're lucky, you might find a pair mating on a plant, or even on the ground. We've had several of these photos posted to the site in the last couple of days.
Stay in Touch
Content by Rich Hatfield, The Xerces Society, on behalf of Bumble Bee Watch.
PHOTOS
Western bumble bee (Bombus occidentalis) and bumble bee on lavender by Rich Hatfield, The Xerces Society. Bumble bee nest illustration by Alix Lukas.