The Basic Steps
Step 1. Assemble your team (we recommend having a group of 4+ searchers, but any number will work!)
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Step 2. Decide where you will look (see below for suggestions)
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Step 3. Get out there and hunt!
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Getting Started
The official 2021 Queen Quest Blitz is Saturday October 16th.
In true 2020...err, 2021... style, be sure when planning your search to follow all local guidance on proper social distancing guidelines, mask wearing, and other precautions to keep your team and community safe!
Teams from around North America will be searching for bumble bee queens on this day! You can also collect observations following the protocol any other time you would like (queens in most areas will likely be hibernating from ~September until ~April).
Assemble a team - the chances of finding queens are likely low, so a team effort will be more rewarding. We recommend having at least 4 members, but teams of any size will work.
The most important part of this coordinated search is that we know each team's effort! (Effort = Number of team members x time spent searching x area covered) With this data we can understand how much effort it takes to find bumble bee queen overwintering sites and determine the feasibility of future studies.
Remember: It is just as important to submit your data whether or not you find any queens!
The official 2021 Queen Quest Blitz is Saturday October 16th.
In true 2020...err, 2021... style, be sure when planning your search to follow all local guidance on proper social distancing guidelines, mask wearing, and other precautions to keep your team and community safe!
Teams from around North America will be searching for bumble bee queens on this day! You can also collect observations following the protocol any other time you would like (queens in most areas will likely be hibernating from ~September until ~April).
Assemble a team - the chances of finding queens are likely low, so a team effort will be more rewarding. We recommend having at least 4 members, but teams of any size will work.
The most important part of this coordinated search is that we know each team's effort! (Effort = Number of team members x time spent searching x area covered) With this data we can understand how much effort it takes to find bumble bee queen overwintering sites and determine the feasibility of future studies.
Remember: It is just as important to submit your data whether or not you find any queens!
Where to look
From anecdotal reports and published literature, it seems most likely that bumble bee queens may be found in loose soils, in the accumulated litter under conifers and other trees, and near structures such as tree trunks, root masses, walls and other human-created structures.
We have also seen photos and reports of queens of B. impatiens digging into yards and sod to overwinter. Although it may be tempting, we don't recommend digging up your yard aimlessly, instead we encourage folks to rake through composed leaf litter or other well-composted soils (see photos and examples below).
When choosing where to look consider the following:
From anecdotal reports and published literature, it seems most likely that bumble bee queens may be found in loose soils, in the accumulated litter under conifers and other trees, and near structures such as tree trunks, root masses, walls and other human-created structures.
We have also seen photos and reports of queens of B. impatiens digging into yards and sod to overwinter. Although it may be tempting, we don't recommend digging up your yard aimlessly, instead we encourage folks to rake through composed leaf litter or other well-composted soils (see photos and examples below).
When choosing where to look consider the following:
- Look through the examples, anecdotal reports, and natural history notes below!! Use this as your inspiration to consider similar places nearby that you might look.
- Do you have known sites with high densities of queen activity in the spring?
- Do you have sites with loose soils or thick duff/litter layers in sheltered areas?
- Are there anecdotal records of overwintering queens in your area or of your species? (See the compiled notes below)
How to search
You will be following the data submission form for your search, so as long as you can reliably fill in each part of that form, you're on the right track. If you search on multiple days, please submit separate reports!
Materials and equipment:
Step-by-step protocol*:
*Be aware: you may need to adapt the protocol to suit your particular soils, climate, or search. As long as you enter your effort and number found in the app or data form, you have done a great job. :)
Please email us at [email protected] with any questions!
You will be following the data submission form for your search, so as long as you can reliably fill in each part of that form, you're on the right track. If you search on multiple days, please submit separate reports!
Materials and equipment:
- Gloves
- Trowel, small hand tools for digging
- Measuring tape or meter stick
- Camera (smart phone or other camera)
- Tarp, bin, or other vessel for holding removed soil
- Snacks, water, and other field comforts
- Optional: rake, soil penetrometer, soil moisture meter, etc (if you take these measurements add them to the notes section of the data submission form)
Step-by-step protocol*:
- Come up with a Team Name, Team Captain, and record the number of people in your team. Please be sure to sign up on the home page so we can keep track of how many and where people are conducting surveys.
- Use your phone or a gps device to accurately record your location. If you are unsure of how to do this, there are some videos on this page that may be helpful.
- Record the time you start looking
- To begin your search...
- Choose a small area of substrate to look in (we recommend no more than a square meter to start)
- Slowly begin removing the substrate a few centimeters at a time
- Place removed substrate aside, checking for queens as you go
- Continue removing substrate until your are about 10cm (~4 inches) deep, or have reached hardpan or other surfaces that seem like bumble bees couldn't possibly dig through
- Measure and take note of the area you have searched
- Replace the removed substrate and move onto the next patch to search
- If you find a queen...
- Congratulations!!!!
- Carefully loosen the queen from her spot
- Take note of her condition (worn wings, fresh looking, groggy, etc)
- Take count of her (totaling up if you find multiple of a given species)
- Take photos of the queen from multiple angles (check out this page for guidance)
- Replace her where you found her and continue your hunt!
- To end your search...
- Stop digging into the earth
- Measure any areas you have searched, or add up the total of all of the areas you have searched
- In the data form, record your data
- Area searched (square meters)
- Depth (centimeters)
- Notes about the surface and soil
- The numbers of any queens you found
*Be aware: you may need to adapt the protocol to suit your particular soils, climate, or search. As long as you enter your effort and number found in the app or data form, you have done a great job. :)
Please email us at [email protected] with any questions!
Photos of soils, substrates, and found queens
Natural History Reading
Anecdotal Reports
We compiled anecdotal reports of overwintering queens in this Google Form (please add yours if you have not done so already). Some key takeaways were:
Some intriguing quotes (names removed for anonymity):
" We were digging up rootlets to study mycorrhizae associated with the Norway spruce roots [in Upstate New York]. As we pulled up rootlets 2 to 4 feet out from the base of the trees, we dislodged at least 3 bumble bee queens who were already in hibernation. Digging down to grab the rootlets, and then carefully pulling them up through the duff, did a nice job of gently dislodging the queens. You could hear them buzzing long before they climbed out. [...] My memory is that the queens were just in the duff/needle litter, not in the soil underneath. Also, that duff layer was relatively dry. "
"[...] a nice loam rich in organic material, not densely packed. [...] she was in the soil immediately underneath a small brush pile of blue elderberry trimming that I leave in my back yard every season as insect habitat; the brush pile was surrounded by northwest native shrubs including mock orange, snowberry, and Nootka rose. [...]I blundered into her--I was clearing the soil and starting to excavate because I had a vine maple that needed to be re-located and she tumbled out with the first spadeful of soil. [...] She was under the shelter of a small (~1 ft tall by 2 ft wide) brush pile consisting of cuttings from the blue elderberry in the same back yard."
Even More!
Youtube Playlist of digging bumble bees
- The Humble Bee: Its life history and how to domesticate it. FWL Sladen, 1912 [Email johnmmola[at]gmail.com for a PDF]
- A Study of the Hibernation of Bumblebees in Southern England. DV Alford. Journal of Animal Ecology, 1969. [PDF]
- Notes on the nesting habits of several North American bumblebees. OE Plath, 1922 [PDF]
- A systematic review of the nesting and overwintering habitat of bumble bees globally. AR Liczner & SR Colla. Journal of Insect Conservation, 2019. [LINK]
- Fantastic bees and where to find them: locating the cryptic overwintering queens of a western bumble bee. Williams et al. Ecosphere, 2020. [LINK]
Anecdotal Reports
We compiled anecdotal reports of overwintering queens in this Google Form (please add yours if you have not done so already). Some key takeaways were:
- Most queens were found less than 8cm (~3in) below surface
- Leaf litter, loose soils, or “duff” are common (>80% of preliminary reports)
- Tree, shrub, or other “overstory” (such as human-made structures) nearby are common.
- Sloped surfaces are common (from anecdotal reports and natural history records)
Some intriguing quotes (names removed for anonymity):
" We were digging up rootlets to study mycorrhizae associated with the Norway spruce roots [in Upstate New York]. As we pulled up rootlets 2 to 4 feet out from the base of the trees, we dislodged at least 3 bumble bee queens who were already in hibernation. Digging down to grab the rootlets, and then carefully pulling them up through the duff, did a nice job of gently dislodging the queens. You could hear them buzzing long before they climbed out. [...] My memory is that the queens were just in the duff/needle litter, not in the soil underneath. Also, that duff layer was relatively dry. "
"[...] a nice loam rich in organic material, not densely packed. [...] she was in the soil immediately underneath a small brush pile of blue elderberry trimming that I leave in my back yard every season as insect habitat; the brush pile was surrounded by northwest native shrubs including mock orange, snowberry, and Nootka rose. [...]I blundered into her--I was clearing the soil and starting to excavate because I had a vine maple that needed to be re-located and she tumbled out with the first spadeful of soil. [...] She was under the shelter of a small (~1 ft tall by 2 ft wide) brush pile consisting of cuttings from the blue elderberry in the same back yard."
Even More!
Youtube Playlist of digging bumble bees
