They really are counting bumble bees, and they need your help

Bumble Bee Watch is on.

A collaborative effort of nonprofits and scientists around the county, the volunteer citizen science survey aims to track and conserve North America’s bumble bees.

A bumble bee is a pollinator and a vital part of the food chain.

If residents are so inclined, they should record via photo bumble bees in their backyard and elsewhere for the survey. They can learn to identify them and send the information to the Bumble Bee Watch website and its other social media platforms.

The ongoing survey will help researchers determine the status and conservation needs of bumble bees and help locate rare or endangered populations.

Bumble Bee Watch is an important citizens’ science project, said Celine Colbert, a forester for the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources at Forbes State Forest in parts of Fayette, Westmoreland and Somerset counties.

“The bumble bee is a pollinator we don’t know a lot about,” she said. Specifically, there’s a lack of information on populations levels and distribution of species.

One thing Colbert does knows about is the efforts to increase food for pollinators like the bumble bee, continues to grow.

She has been involved in native pollinator plantings and gardens and is active in the Westmoreland Pollinators Partners.

The partnership holds a pollinator garden tour, which had a strong showing last year but was offered on a smaller scale this year because of the pandemic, Colbert said.

Pollinator gardens and events will continue in the future, she said.

“More and more people are moving to native landscaping because it’s important to help pollinators thrive,” she said.