Here’s the buzz on ‘ first bee’ of 2021
Yolo and Solano counties residents ask to keep an eye out
In memory of native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, UC Davis distinguished emeritus professor of entomology, the Bohart Museum of Entomology is sponsoring the inaugural Robbin Thorp Memorial First- Bumble- Bee- of- the-Year Contest.
Professor Thorp, 85, who died June 7, 2019, was a global authority on bumble bees, and always looked forward to seeing the first bumble bee of the year. He launched an impromptu contest several years ago with a small group of bumble bee enthusiasts/ photographers from Yolo and Solano counties.
Now the Bohart Museum, where Thorp spent much of his time identifying bees and helping others, is sponsoring the contest.
Participants are to capture an image of a bumble bee in the wild in either Yolo or Solano counties and email the image to bmuseum@ucdavis.edu, with the details of time, date and place. The image must be recognizable as a bumble bee.
The winner receives bragging rights and a gift from the Bohart Museum, said Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart and UCD professor of entomology. Plans call for a Bohart coffee mug with a bumble bee image.
The first bumble bee to emerge in this area is the black- tailed bumble bee, Bombus melanopygus. Native to western North America and found from California to British Columbia and as far east as Idaho, it forages on manzanitas, wild lilacs, wild buckwheats, lupines, penstemons, clovers, and sages, among others.
Thorp, a 30- year member of the UCD entomology faculty, from 1964- 1994, coauthored two books, Bumble Bees of North America: An Identification Guide ( Princeton University, 2014) and California Bees and Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists ( Heyday, 2014). He achieved emeritus status in 1994 but continued to engage in research, teaching and public service until a few weeks before his death.
A tireless advocate of pollinator species protection and conservation, he was known for his expertise, dedication and passion in protecting native pollinators, especially bumble bees, and for his teaching, research and public service.
He was an authority on pollination ecology, ecology and systematics of honey bees, bumble bees, vernal pool bees, conservation of bees, native bees and crop pollination, and bees of urban gardens and agricultural landscapes.
In August of 2016 a documentary crew from CNN, headed by John Sutter, followed Thorp to a meadow where he last saw Franklin’s bumble bee. Sutter wrote about Dr. Thorp, then 82, in a piece he titled “The Old Man and the Bee,” a spinoff of Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea.”
The winner receives bragging rights and a gift from the Bohart Museum, said Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart and UCD professor of entomology. Plans call for a Bohart coffee mug with a bumble bee image.