From Pollinator Pathway Newsletter!

Spring has arrived and so have the pollinators! Cued by warmer temperatures and longer days, early native pollinators like Unequal Cellophane Bees have started to emerge from winter diapause in the Northeast. On sunny days you may see a Mourning Cloak, one of the few butterflies which overwinter as an adult, spreading its wings in the warmth.

In this edition of The Buzz, we celebrate fabulous, furry native bumble bees; the “flying teddy bears of the insect world,” whose pollination superpowers play a critical role in healthy ecosystems and crop pollination.

There are 47 species of bumble bees in the United States, but in recent years there has been a pattern of dramatic decline in many of these species.  In 2017 the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee, a bee that was once commonly distributed throughout the east and upper Midwest but has declined from an estimated 87% of its historic range, became the first bee in the continental US to be placed on the Federal Endangered Species List.

The good news is that we can all help these important pollinators by adding native flowering plants to our yards and eliminating pesticide use. Of course by connecting fragmented habitats with pollinator pathways, we help make bumble bee populations more resilient!