November 19, 2023
The season is drawing to a close. I'm still seeing a few stray bees/wasps on sunny days, but even those that have strayed indoors seem to be waning now.
Thank you to everyone who participated, and especially to those who were identifiers for us! Over 200 species in our nine counties! I think that is pretty fantastic.
I've been collating the data from this year today and was nearly jumping up and down about 15 minutes ago when I saw one Rusty-patch bumble bee recorded by Molly Jacobson in Syracuse. Then I read her notes: they were from a collection - not a current live specimen recorded in the field. My bubble burst. Moral of the story: don't count your bumblebees until you've read all the data!
I'm looking forward to next year - and I hope I can get out in the field a bit more myself.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving and a good winter, everyone! See you in 2024.
Ellen
