This past February Bumble Bee Watch (BBW) users were invited to take part in a survey run by York University researchers. The survey was designed to learn more about Bumble Bee Watch participant demographics, motives, and confidence with bumble bee identification. Thanks so much to those of you that participated! Early results are now in and we have a better understanding about why people get involved, how their skills and level of awareness have changed, and their thoughts about how the program can be improved as well as what they think is working well. You can see a summary of the results by clicking below.
Tracking the Emergence of Spring Queens in Real Time!
Have you seen any bumble bees yet this year? So far in 2018 over 750 records of bumble bees have been submitted. You can track the emergence of spring queens across the continent--in almost real time based on observations submitted by Bumble Bee Watch participants--by using the Map option on BumbleBeeWatch.org, selecting the year as 2018, and choosing the Color Coding option to be by month rather than species. Help us expand our map of sightings by submitting your records today online or via our iOS (Apple) app (Android app is coming soon, stay tuned to the website)!
Are you a Bumble Bee Enthusiast? Help Verify Records
To help engage users and improve the verification process, we've added a new user category to the website, Bumble Bee Enthusiast! Bumble Bee Watcher "Enthusiasts" are participants who are knowledgeable about bumble bee identification, excited to get engaged at a deeper level, and are eager to put their skills to work by verifying records submitted to Bumble Bee Watch. If this sounds like you, please consider taking the ID quiz for your region. Those that score well on the regional quizzes will have their user accounts elevated to the enthusiast level helping to provide other users with feedback on their submissions. Please check back to the BBW website soon or follow us on Facebook to be the first to know when the online quizzes are available. Thanks in advance for your interest!
