And the 2026 Bee of the Year is...
At our October 22nd meeting, with the season of bees and blooms coming to a close, it was fitting to have a vote for the 2026 Bee of the Year. In what turned out to be a very close competion between several nominated bees, it was Dan Thompson's nomination of the western bumble bee, Bombus occidentalis, that came out on top. And since the Bee of the Year gets to stand in the spotlight, most of us could agree that few bees could use one more.
Once everywhere
The western bumble bee is of course, a lovable, rotund and fuzzy bumble bee. This alone makes her a popular choice, but there is far more to her story. Just about three decades ago, 37 of the 39 Washington counties reported her as the most common bumble. From one end of the state to the other, she was the kind of bee you didn't give a second look because she was always there. That's a big part of what makes her worth this title. She's a measure of what we've lost, and how quickly.
Beginning in the late 1990s, she dropped out of much of her range, and fast.
The story of how that happened deserves the most attention. In the early 1990s, queens of the Western bumblebee and its close relatives were shipped to Europe to be reared commercially, and the colonies came back to pollinate greenhouse crops (tomatoes, mostly). Somewhere along the way the breeding stock picked up a parasite, Nosema bombi. Researchers, notably the late Robbin Thorp at UC Davis, suspected it then spilled out of the greenhouses and into wild bees. Around the same time, Franklin's bumblebee and the rusty patched bumblebee crashed as well. Franklin's hasn't been seen since 2006, and the rusty patched was listed as federally endangered in 2017.
Three species, one bad idea about moving bees around. It's a history no one should want to see repeated with another species of bee. Commercial bumble bees are still shipped for crop pollination today, which raises a fair question: how closely are those shipments watched for disease? Pesticides, habitat loss, and a changing climate have piled on since.
The good news is that she isn't gone. The Western bumblebee is still hanging on in pockets of her range, including right here in the Pacific Northwest, and every confirmed sighting tells researchers a little more about where, and maybe why.
For anyone hoping to find a western bumble bee, the mark to watch for in much of the Northwest is a clean white tip at the end of the abdomen, as though she backed into a fresh coat of paint. Her black and yellow pattern shifts a little across her range, though, and no single feature is foolproof on a bumble bee. When you think you've found one, it pays to take more photos from more angles than seems reasonable.
What there is to do
The western bumble bee isn't found everywhere anymore, but she doesn't have a chance of showing up if there isn't a habitat waiting for her. Manage your yard for all bumble bees and you might just get lucky.
Report your sightings. Photograph the bumble bees you find and post them on iNaturalist. Community science is a BIG part of how this bee gets tracked, and your phone camera is more than adequate.
Plant flowers that bumble bees love. Heather in winter, fruit trees and rhododendrons in spring, Ceanothus in early summer, red clover and lavender in the hottest days, then goldenrod, rabbitbrush, and asters in fall.
Go easy on the sprays. Whatever goes on the flowers, she's going to walk through.
Leave a little ground alone. An undisturbed corner, some leaf litter, an old mole burrow you were planning to fill in. These are potential nest sites.
Show a kid.
A bee worth the fuss
A year in the spotlight won't bring her back on its own, but every set of eyes helps. A kind thank you to everyone who participated, from those who nominated bees to those who voted. Here's hoping for a few more white tails in the clover next spring.
Bee of the Year Runners-up
The Pacific dune-digger, Habropoda miserablis
Kris Ethington nominated the Pacific dune-digger, Habropoda miserablis. A bee also in need of a conservation pick-me-up, she wrote these eloquent words:
"Habropoda miserabilis, the Pacific Dune Digger Bee, deserves this recognition because it is one of our state’s most unique and imperiled dune specialists. With a limited endemic range stretching from Baja California to British Columbia, Washington is fortunate to host a few nesting aggregations in the Olympic Peninsula and Puget Sound, including those at Fort Worden and Fort Flagler. As a NatureServe G2 globally imperiled species, its conservation status underscores the urgency of increasing statewide awareness. Sharing its nesting behaviors through bee education and walks has deepened public understanding of solitary ground nesting bees, and its role in sustaining climate stressed coastal dune ecosystems is both essential and irreplaceable. Honoring this species would spotlight a bee whose ecological contributions cannot be overstated."
Agapostemon virescens
Two members nominated the stunning bicolored striped sweat bee, a brilliant and familiar bee of many habitats across the state.
Kyle Roslund: It's the gateway bee. People say all the time things along the lines of "I didn't know bees could be green" or "I saw a green insect the other day and it was amazing, what was it" at events and it's a bee that encourages people to go out into nature or their gardens to find it.
Daniel Szumlas: Agapostemon virescens, the bicolored striped sweat bee, is a member of the metallic sweat bee genus, Agapostemon. It dominates the west side of Washington but is abundant in the east as well. It is highly adaptable to urban gardens, backyard flower patches, and parklands. Local community observations (like those on iNaturalist ) heavily favor A. virescens in towns from Seattle down to Vancouver. At tabling events, I observe that when people examine displayed bee posters and pinned bee specimens, their eyes head directly to this metallic green sweat bee, particularly when the sun lights them up dramatically! We are the Evergreen State... Let us have "The Evergreen Bee"!
Full list of nominated bees:
Agapostemon virescens - Bicolored striped sweat bee
Agapostemon subtilior - The fine-striped sweat bee
Andrena miserablis - The miserable mining bee
Andrena vulpicolor - No common name
Anthophora exigua - No common name
Bombus melanopygus - Black-tailed bumble bee
Bombus occidentalis - Western bumble bee
Certaina spp. - Small carpenter bees
Diadasia spp. - Mallow bees
Habropoda miserablis - Pacific dune-digger
Heriades carinata - Carinate armored resin bee
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