Bumble Bee Watch, a project of The Xerces Society and other organizations, is an effort to track and conserve North America’s bumble bees. In this project, I submit photos of bumble bees and make some preliminary decision about what particular species it is by going through a decision tree (provided on the website). Although this initial ID is challenging, my guess vetted by experts, and so I’ve started to learn how to identify bumble bees — a real plus for me! (Especially since just a few years ago I found it difficult to even distinguish between a bumble bee and a honey bee.)
As with most community science projects, it has made me much more observant and therefore more enjoyable when I see bumble bees in my yard.
And I’m glad I can contribute to determining the distribution of the bumble bee population.