Join us for FLC's upcoming SE Atlas Bumble Bee Survey!

Join the Foothills staff at the Harris Farm as we work on our annual survey of bumble bee populations in our area as part of the SE Bumble Bee Atlas. This free event (with a suggested donation $10) is a great opportunity to explore the Harris Farm, visit our native pollinator meadows, and assist our team for a great cause!

What is the Bumble Bee Atlas? The Atlas is a community (aka citizen or participatory) science project aimed at gathering the data needed to track and conserving bumble bees. The current data suggests that many species of bumble bees face an uncertain future, and there is a lack of data needed to implement effective conservation measures, especially at the regional scale. "Community science" means anyone is welcome to participate and help contribute to a better understanding of bumble bee needs.

The Bumble Bee Atlas was founded by The Xerces Society. Our region is called the Southeast Atlas and includes the states of TN, GA, NC and SC. The Southeast Atlas is divided into the above-mentioned states, then those states are divided into grid cells. Once training is completed, volunteers "adopt" a grid cell(s) and conduct surveys within those grid cells during the sampling season (May through end of September).

Assisting the FLC staff for our survey is John Skinner. John is a retired Professor and Extension Apiculture Specialist in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology at the University of Tennessee. John's knowledge and instruction is super helpful and we are excited that he can join us this year too.

Check out the Maryville Daily Times article about last year's June bumble bee survey here: Bee in the moment: Citizen scientists study insects at Foothills Land Conservancy

What's involved and what we will be doing?

The surveys are a little involved, but usually take around 2 hours to complete (depending on how many bees are captured).

During the survey, bumble bees are safely captured then put into a vial or jar and put on ice in a cooler to be temporarily anesthetized. This allows closer inspection of the bees to properly identify the species and take close-up photos before the bees warm and wake back up. Habitat assessments of the surrounding area are also conducted, and data forms filled out. After each survey, the data and photos are uploaded by a grid cell adopter to the Bumble Bee Watch database where trained professionals review the data and confirm species identifications of each bee entered.

Additional info about the survey itself:

The survey should take around two hours, depending on how many bees we capture. We must survey for a minimum of 45 person minutes, but if we have a few people actively searching then we divide that time by the number of surveyors. Below is a rough outline of the different steps of the survey.

All of the necessary supplies and data forms to complete the survey will be provided but if anybody has an extra butterfly net, they are welcome to bring it along. From doing these surveys Katheryn has learned that it's easier sometimes to just capture the bees directly using the vials. Nets are necessary though for those bees that are out of reach. In general, folks should bring water and sunscreen.

• Set up and go over survey protocol
• Actively survey for bees using butterfly nets and/or directly with vials
• Put captured bees into vials, take photo of bee in vial with host flower
• Put vial with bee in cooler on ice to temporarily anesthetize it.
• Go back to surveying for more bees for remainder of survey time.
• Process bees for photos and species identification (as best we can).
• Fill out habitat assessment part of data form
• Off-site, upload data to Bumble Bee Watch

Want more info? Visit Print Materials | Bumble Bee Atlas and scroll down to the SE Atlas section at the bottom of the page. The section includes a handbook and bee guide.

Your support matters! Several of our survey bumble bee volunteers have provided donations to the Conservancy this summer and we very much appreciate the support. Please consider donating to FLC's regional land conservation programs, which also assists our team with community outreach efforts. A donation button can be found along the right hand side of this page. Thank you!

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2024 Bumble Bee survey data submissions to survey site BumbleBeeWatch.org:

August 23, 2024 Survey (118 bees total)

• 116 Bombus impatiens (Common eastern)
• 2 pending observations

July 27, 2024 Survey - 78 bumble bees observed!

• 48 Bombus impatiens (Common eastern)
• 21 Bombus pensylvanicus (American)
• 4 Bombus griseocollis (Brown-belted)
• 2 Bombus bimaculatus (Two-spotted)
• 3 pending observations

June 27, 2924 Survey - 43 bumble bees observed!

• 23 Bombus impatiens (Common eastern)
• 15 Bombus bimaculatus (Two-spotted)
• 4 Bombus griseocollis (Brown-belted)
• 1 bumble bee (species TBD)

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Check out the results from our 2023 bumble bee surveys at the Harris Farm (courtesy of Katheryn Albrecht):