Bumble Bee Watch
Bumble Bee with pollen that Dina photographed for the California Bumble Bee Atlas Initiative.
On the tip of the headlands in San Simeon on a windy day in June, I’m having a surreal experience of connecting with Nature. About twenty-five of us are “hunting” for Bumblebees, as they whiz past us on gusts of wind. My hair furiously flows into my face when I hear a hum behind me. Grasping the wooden handle of my insect net, I whirl around to capture a Bombus just as they land on a sinewy stalk of golden Yarrow. I pop them into a vial and toss them into the cooler with the others. Our hunting party waits for Dr. Leif Richardson to teach us the science behind why we are freezing Bees and collecting their data. This is a capture and release program, which is nothing short of awe-inspiring, where we witness cryotized Bees awaken and return to the flowers after we’ve photographed and studied them.
The Xerces Society is an international non-profit that is dedicated to the conservation of invertebrate pollinators. I’ve known about their crucial work protecting our more-than-human Garden-kin, but it wasn’t until I reached out to them with concerns about pesticide use in my neighborhood, that I discovered their Bumble Bee Atlas, a community science program. This initiative provides scientists a unique opportunity to better understand how to support the necessary conservation and proliferation of Bumble Bees within various environments. Each certified participant adopts a specific area of land, called a grid cell, and visits it at least twice in a flowering season to record the data found. I’m proud to say that, through their training, I am now permitted to be active in the California Bumble Bee Atlas Initiative to track and conserve our native Bees!
I cultivate a nearly 1-acre pollinator Garden in my backyard in the Napa Valley. I’m out there most days, dancing with Swallowtail, Finch, Hummer and Bumble, amid Rose, Poppy, Yarrow and Sage. My heart is full, my hands flow with energy, my mind is free and clear. This is my grounding, my communion, my sanity, and my service.
Even in my early days of developing Garden it was clear to me, above all else, that my efforts in gardening were in service to the feeding of Bees. I watched, I absorbed, I learned. Their appetite informs me, for I recognize that this work, of which I am a part, involves a greater sphere of wise and intuitive beings who rely on my Garden for sustenance and strength, just as I rely on them for nourishment and beauty.
As I deepen my understanding of what is needed to support the health and vitality of the native Bee communities in my local area, I continually refine what I tend to in this Garden, that she may hold and offer a cascade of floral food for Bees throughout the seasonal landscape. This practice has been inspiring, soul-stirring and captivating.
I now spend various days of the month collecting and recording the Bumblebee data in my backyard ecosystem. Through my conscious efforts in trusting their innate cadence towards evolutionary success I engage in dynamic reciprocity with our greater-than-human family. Awareness is the practice. Compassion is the key. I encourage you to get to know the pollinator beings in your backyard and neighborhood, to watch and listen for what they need to thrive, and find your place in helping them continue on.