An Iowa City resident discovered the first rusty patch bumble bee nest in the state since the species was listed as endangered in 2017.
In August, Michelle Wiegand, an education specialist at Johnson County Conservation, spotted a group of bees going in and out of a small hole in the soil in her backyard. Because of some markings on their bodies, she thought the bees could be the endangered rusty patch species.
“I’m not an expert on bees, and so I wasn’t 100% positive. That’s why I did post to iNaturalist,” Weigand said. “I wanted to get some feedback from the larger community, and when I did post, it just immediately blew up. There was a lot of feedback, a lot of verifications and excitement around the post.”
Kyle Price, a scientist at Environmental Solutions and Innovations, is part of a group that identifies bumblebee observations on iNaturalist. In the “bee nerd chat,” as he calls it, he saw Weigand’s post and reached out about excavating the nest.
Price waited until the nest was vacated permanently by the bees. This species does not reuse their nest sites, so the excavation does not harm the endangered species. Price said it was important to remove so scientists can learn more about the species, it’s micro climates and how to address the population decline.