The Friends of the Salmon River, Friends of the Napanee River and the Lennox & Addington Stewardship Council are launching a photo contest to promote awareness of bumble bees and encourage all – kids and adults – to spend time in nature and take photos in local watersheds.
Bumble bees are very important pollinators of wild flowering plants and crops (such as tomato, bell pepper and eggplant). For their Submission Guidelines and Entry Form, see the Contest page on their website: https://www.friendsofsalmonriver.ca/bumblebee-photo-contest/.
To identify bumble bees, simply access iNaturalist or Seek. Both apps are easy to use and Seek is particularly easy and fun for children.
Prizes will be awarded for the most interesting photos. Winners can take home flowering plants that support pollinators and books about bees (and dragonflies, etc.) that are fun for kids.
Bumble bees are visible in the Salmon and Napanee watersheds area from March through November. They build their nests underground or slightly above the ground.
Bumble bees are fairly easy to photograph as they are quite slow and often return to the same plants many times. Close-up photos will be easiest to identify.
Use the macro feature and crop as needed, so the bee is the photo.
Participants are encouraged to take three photographs with different views of the same bee, with one showing the abdomen, one showing the wing(s) and one showing the face. Without the different views, identification can be difficult and some bumble bees may not be identifiable.
Submissions can include images of four different bumble bees. By spreading it out over the four months of the contest, photographers may be able to snap different species, since several of the rarer species have short flight times.
Bonus points will be given for the three different views and the plant the bee is foraging on and for photographing a rare species.
Note that these are encouraged, but not required for submissions to the contest.
Bumble bees are less aggressive and less likely to sting than hornets and yellow jackets. Please be very careful around bees, so that their activities are not disturbed. The queens especially need to be protected.
To support their biology, leave areas of a yard un-mowed and add patches of rocks or bare soil, to attract them. Mint and legumes like clover species will support their need for nectar and pollen. Let bull thistles, goldenrods and asters grow in the un-mowed areas. They attract many pollinators, especially during late summer, when many native plants have finished flowering.