By Alex Singer
Northside News
Normally, I don’t pay close attention to the myriad and varied critters crawling and flying around my 99% native plant yard except to note a colorful butterfly or caterpillar, but when friends started boasting about the rusty patched bumble bees (Bombus affinis) in their yards, I had to get in on this important bragging right.
Listed as endangered in 2017, the rusty patched bumble bee (RPBB) became the first bumble bee species to receive federal protection. Once widespread across its range, studies suggest its significant and rapid decline is due to a fungus and other threats, including pesticides and the effects of drought and extreme temperatures. Wisconsin is a hotspot, with Madison and environs particularly red, though it’s unknown why (see map).
I asked for help from someone more bee and tech savvy than I, both important to capturing and verifying images of a RPBB. Not only do they not stay still for long, but their size, coloration, sex and pattern vary depending on whether it’s a queen (biggest by far) or a worker (also female, but about half the size) or a similar-sized male hanging about not even collecting pollen.
In order to verify an identification, multiple shots of the same bee from different angles can be submitted to an AI-enhanced app (BeeMachine) that responds with results in percentages. If the likelihood is high, you can send results to the Bumble Bee Watch site for final confirmation and get on the map.
What can you do to encourage and support the endangered RPBB (and many other pollinators)? First, plant diverse native flowers that will provide nectar and pollen from April through October. The RPBB is one of the first bumblebees to emerge early in the spring and the last to go into hibernation, so they need constant nourishment. (See the Guides section in the Facebook group Wisconsin/Midwest Bumble Bee Observers for suggestions.)
Fall and spring are good times to plant native plants, and free native seeds will soon be available at many Madison Public Library branches, as well as a little free seed library in front of my house on Luster Avenue. (You’ll see a cutout RPBB on top.)
Skip fall and spring cleanups in your native habitat areas: leave the leaves, sticks, stems, stumps, and rodent holes, many of which are used for nesting and hibernation. Finally, eliminate pesticide use, including herbicides, insecticides, fungicides and rodenticides.
Resources: Bumblebee identification guide (wisconsinbumblebees.entomology.wisc.edu)
Resources and submit sightings: bumblebeewatch.org, Bee Machine app (free on Google Play and Apple App Store), Facebook group (Wisconsin/Midwest Bumble Bee Observers).
Sources: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Judy Cardin, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
