Bumblebee Watch

I like citizen science programs so much that I just signed up for "Bumblee Watch" (http://www.bumblebeewatch.org) after reading about it in the April/May 2014 issue of "National Wildlife" magazine.

I like projects like this in which I can send in photos of bugs "in the wild", without capturing or harming them, and get them identified by experts.  It gives me the kind of positive feedback I need to go on with a task like that and not give up.  Plus I help researchers conserve species.

I've been doing that with Butterflies and Moths of North America (BAMONA) at (http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org) for about a year.  In that time, with no knowledge or interest in moths, I was able to bring the total number of moths identified on that site for Knox County, Ohio, from 13 to more than 30.  And I have only been in this county for just under 2 years!

When you send photos, you can say, "I think this is a moth." or "I think this is a butterfly." or "I don't even know if it's a moth or a butterfly."  And you can go farther, if you can, and suggest which moth or butterfly it is.  With the help of a simple guide such as the Ohio Department of Natural Resources booklet on common butterflies of Ohio, you can quickly learn to identify a good 20 or more common butterflies.   Moths are harder, but you can suggest id's when you photograph a moth that looks like one you sent in and got identified by an expert.


"Bumblebee Watch" is intended to help save bumblebees.  The "National Widlife" article refers to a new analysis finding that "almost a third of North American bumblee species are declining, and some are threatened with extinction".   The article states that "four once-common...species have vanished from large portions of their former ranges.  A fifth may already be extinct.  Scientists are seeing similar losses in Europe, South America and Asia".

This can be a real loss to pollination, already threatened by the decline in European honeybee colonies.  Pollination by native bees is an important backup to honeybees.  They are more efficient pollinators than honeybees as well.

For information on other citizen science projects, please go to the "Citizen Science" button on the menu of my website at http://www.doncomis.simplesite.com.