Guest Authors

A group of young people standing a classroom holding wooden insect houses that they have been building. Some people have blonde hair, some brown, and some black. A few of the group are wearing head scarfs. The insect houses are square frames with a pointed roof.

Bee City USA & Bee Campus USA Affiliate Spotlight: University of Michigan-Dearborn

Pollinators are in decline, but what can a small or medium-sized university or college do to help? As it turns out, plenty. The University of Michigan-Dearborn has an outsized, long, and rich tradition of promoting environmental education and sustainability, especially in regards to pollinators—and in autumn 2019, was certified as a Bee Campus USA affiliate.

A man and a woman stand nest to each other in front of a grove of old trees.

Remembering Bill Shepard, a Great Friend of Butterflies

Bill Shepard dedicated his life to helping butterflies. He participated in many annual counts across California as well as the Western monarch Thanksgiving Count. An educator by profession, he also fostered future generations of butterfly enthusiasts.

Children cluster around a tabletop display as the author talks with families about pollinators and conservation.

Arrancando la Primera Iniciativa de Conservación de Polinizadores para el Centro de México

Héctor Ávila Villegas is working to promote pollinator conservation in Central Mexico. He has planned and implemented habitat projects and is engaged in public outreach. This blog is part two of his story.

A man and a woman carrying an insect net walk through grass looking for bumble bees

The Power of The Pinery: Six Years of Bumble Bee Community Science at Ontario’s Pinery Provincial Park

Pinery Provincial Park, near the southern tip of Lake Huron in Ontario, has been the site of Wildlife Preservation Canada’s Native Pollinator Initiative since 2015. Volunteers participating in this community science survey program have created a robust long-term dataset by contributing nearly two thousand species-specific bumble bee observations to Bumble Bee Watch.

The author, Héctor Ávila Villegas, stands beside a pollinator habitat strip full of pink, white, and yellow flowers

Conservación de Polinizadores en Aguascalientes, México

Over the last couple of years, Xerces Society staff have had the pleasure of supporting Héctor Ávila Villegas with his efforts to promote naturalized spaces that function as pollinator habitat and outreach in the state of Aguascalientes, Mexico.

A woman smiles while looking at a fuzzy, black, and yellow bumble bee on her finger.

Ann Puddicombe, a Bumble Bee Watch Star

Ann is among the top ten Bumble Bee Watch submitters in North America. She has also given presentations on bumble bees to community groups, conducted her own independent bumble bee surveys, and advised local groups in creating pollinator habitat.

A fuzzy, yellow and black striped bee perches atop a cluster of bright yellow flowers.

Still Questing for Bee Nests

Did you beat the odds this year and spot a bumble bee nest? If so, we really want to hear from you for York University’s #Quest4BeeNests research project!

A plump bumble bee with yellow and black stripes, as well as a brown patch on its back and brownish wings, pollinates a small, white flower.

5 Ways Wildlife Preservation Canada’s Bumble Bee Recovery & Conservation Initiatives Benefit from Bumble Bee Watch

Wildlife Preservation Canada’s efforts to conserve native bumble bees would be nothing without help from our volunteer community scientists across the country, and without Bumble Bee Watch.

Community Scientists Take on the Cultivar Conundrum

The Xerces Society’s blog post “Picking Plants for Pollinators: The Cultivar Conundrum” highlighted the lack of research on this topic. To help address this knowledge gap, Budburst launched the Nativars research project in 2018.

A woman walking across a field with a nose working dog, looking for bumble bee nests.

A Quest for Bumble Bee Nests: The Missing Link

Researchers at York University are recruiting members from across North America for a very important mission. Your assignment, should you choose to accept it: find and submit sightings of bumble bee nests.

The author stands in a field holding a net while talking during a demonstration.

Kicking Off Canadian Bumble Bee Watch Training Events!

During this year's Pollinator Week (June 18 to 24) multiple locations in Ontario and Alberta were buzzing with activity, including an assortment of Bumble Bee Watch community-science training events led by Wildlife Preservation Canada.

Surprising Results from a Survey of Bumble Bee Watch Users

This past February, Bumble Bee Watch users were invited to take a survey run by York University researchers to learn more about participant demographics, motives, and confidence with bumble bee identification.

Wildlife Preservation Canada Continues Training “Bumble Bee Watchers”

Begun in 2015 at one location in Ontario, Wildlife Preservation Canada has expanded Bumble Bee Watch citizen science training programs to multiple locations across Canada. The programs are held in areas with historical observations of at-risk species.

Observations by Community Scientists Expand Known Range of the Two-Spotted Bumble Bee

Contributions to the community science program Bumble Bee Watch are expanding our understanding of where species have been - and potentially where they are going.