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Brown belted bumblebee on purple coneflower

Pollinator Bioblitz: How you can help save endangered pollinators!

September 11, 2023 | Topics: Events

Story and photographs by Kris Gould

Are you familiar with the Pollinator Bioblitz? It’s one of the easiest ways for the general public to support endangered pollinators, yet many people aren’t aware of it. I participated this year and found it to be fun, easy and an amazing learning experience. I hope you’ll be inspired to help the pollinators too!

Brown Belted Bumblebee (Bombus griseocollis) showing off some typical bee characteristics such as long antennae and long, oval eyes at the side of the face.

First of all let me explain what a bioblitz is…. It’s an event where the public assists scientists with identification of wildlife or plants in a specific area during a set period of time, e.g. a day or a week. A bioblitz can be done in person in a single location, or observations can be submitted online. The data collected during a bioblitz is then available for scientific research.

Bumblebee with Pollen Basket (corbicula); the pollen basket is used to harvest pollen and carry it to the nest or hive.

The Pollinator Bioblitz is an online event that lasts one week and covers all of North America. I joined the project online and then went out, armed with my phone and camera, to protect the pollinators! Every day during the bioblitz, I visited locations in the Lapham Peak Unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest such as the Schoeninger Savannah or the Butterfly Garden. I took pictures of the bees, butterflies and other insects that I encountered and uploaded the photos to iNaturalist.org.

Bees and butterflies coexisting in the Lapham Peak Butterfly Garden. Many bees and butterflies can coexist in a garden and in the wild.

The first lesson I learned is that it’s hard to get a good picture of a bee! When it’s windy, it’s nearly impossible. The bee is buzzing around from flower to flower and as soon as it settles down a wind gust blows both the flower and the bee out of the frame. Fortunately, the photo doesn’t have to be perfect to allow for identification.

The Greater Bee Fly looks like a fuzzy mosquito but it doesn't sting and it's not really a bee. — The Greater Bee Fly looks like a fuzzy mosquito but it doesn’t sting and it’s not really a bee.

How does identification work? I’m not an expert on bee and butterfly species, but you don’t need to be in order to participate. When you upload photos to iNaturalist.org it automatically suggests an identification. Other users review the photos and add their own identification which increases the confidence in the data. iNaturalist has a free app, called Seek, which makes taking photos and uploading them even easier.

Using the Seek application by iNaturalist is an easy and free way to identify plants, insects and animals. You can also submit your photos to the iNaturalist database.

On my first day out, I was surprised and concerned by how few bees I saw in the Schoeninger Savannah, a restored prairie. One of the few flowers blooming was the Wild White Indigo and that was where most of the pollinator activity was. On the second day of the bioblitz I visited the Butterfly Garden, which had a greater concentration and variety of blooming plants (and is more protected from the wind) so I photographed a lot more bee activity.

Two-spotted Bumblebee (Bombus bimaculatus) on Wild White Indigo (Baptisia alba). This bee climbs deep into the flower to collect pollen.

I saw insects that looks like bees but aren’t and I started to be able to tell the difference. There are a lot of interesting insects out there and each fulfills a role in its habitat, but not all of them are pollinators. My curiosity about these creatures, which we depend on to grow about 35% of our food crops, was peaked.

American Lady (Vanessa virginiensis) butterfly on coneflower in the Butterfly Garden.

As I continued to visit these locations throughout the week, I saw a variety of bumblebees, honey bees and butterflies. I learned that Wisconsin, historically, was home to about 20 species of bumblebees, of which 15 can still be found. One of those species, the rusty-patched bumblebee (Bombus affinis), was the first federally protected bee species under the Endangered Species Act. I didn’t personally see a rusty-patched bumblebee this summer, but others have, so we know it’s still hanging in there.

Both Honey Bees and Bumble Bees collect pollen and nectar. But Bumble bees only produce a small amount of honey - only enough for their own needs. Honey Bees, as the name suggests produce a lot of honey that can be harvested by a beekeeper. — Honey bee on black-eyed Susan. Both Honey Bees and Bumblebees collect pollen and nectar. But Bumblebees only produce a small amount of honey – only enough for their own needs. Honey Bees produce a lot of honey that can be harvested by a beekeeper.

I also learned about other ways to help. Some people think that beekeeping is a good way to support pollinators. If you’re interested in that, it’s great, but honey bees aren’t actually native to North America (nor are they endangered). The best way to support our native pollinators is to plant native plants. During the bioblitz I checked out the pollinators that were visiting downtown Delafield and saw some great examples of gardening with native and pollinator friendly plants.

European honey bee (apis mellifera); not native to North America but common worldwide due to its ability to pollinate and produce honey.

Anyone can participate in citizen science projects like the Pollinator Bioblitz, which is an annual event. It most recently occurred in North America during Pollinator Week (June 19 – 25, 2023) and was hosted by the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC) Pollinator Communications Taskforce. During the week of the Pollinator Bioblitz, there were 156 observers, 2,976 observations, and 572 different species identified. Every piece of data helps, but if more people knew how easy and rewarding it is to participate in citizen science, we could do even more!

The Butterfly Garden at Lapham Peak attracts people and pollinators. This garden features a butterfly sculpture, bird baths, benches and walking paths.

A Wisconsin specific bioblitz organized by UW-Madison, Division of Extension Horticulture Program happened at the same time. The goal of this event was to raise awareness of pollinators, their habitat and what can be done to protect them. These bioblitz events lasted for one week but there are other programs that collect data throughout the year. Check out the Bumble Bee Brigade which is sponsored by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

The Common Drone Fly (Eristalis tenax) is a bee mimic that has been found on every continent except Antartica.

So why should you help the pollinators? Well, if you like chocolate, coffee, blueberries, apples, cherries, green beans, cucumbers, almonds (and the list goes on), then you have a pollinator to thank. But pollinators, such as bees and butterflies, are in trouble. Their populations are declining. It’s easy to assume that there’s not much we can do, however there are several ways we can help. Gardening with native plants is good for pollinators and beautiful. And even though the Pollinator Bioblitz is complete for this year, there are other opportunities to capture data and support scientists. So, let’s get out there with our cameras and phones and do our part in the fight to save endangered pollinators!