Happy Pollinator Week

Pollinator Week is an annual international event, initiated by the Pollinator Partnership, that celebrates the vital role that pollinators play in our ecosystems, economies, and agriculture. Aside from the most well-known pollinator, the European Honeybee (Apis mellifera), Oklahoma is home to 4,000 other native species of bees, which include the fuzzy Bumblebees (Bombus spp.), their shiny look-alikes the Carpenter bees (Xylocopa spp.), the beautiful Green sweat bees (Agapostemon spp.), and the skillful Leaf Cutter bees (Megachilidae spp.). Native bees do not create honey the way honeybees do but are just as important, if not more so, for their pollination services to our native plants and agricultural crops.  

If you want to learn about your native bees in your own backyard, the best thing to do is to download the app Seek by iNaturalist. This handy tool on your phone will help you identify insects and the plants they use for food and habitat. For the more old-fashioned experience of identifying using a book, my two favorite field guides are the National Geographic Guide to Insects and Spiders of North America by Arthur V. Evans, and 100 Plants to Feed the Bees: Provide a Healthy Habitat to Help Pollinators Thrive by the Xerces Society. Now that you’ve started looking for bees, you can submit your observations as a citizen scientist to the Great Sunflower Project.  

Now go out there and look for some bees! If you see any honeybees give them some love because they are busy preparing for our honey harvest next month... more details coming soon!