Science for Bumble Bees

How do I access the bee survey to start classifying?

First, make sure you've successfully completed our Practice Survey to learn how to identify different pollinators. After you've completed the Practice Survey, you can select the Bee Survey from the home page. Zooniverse saves your last survey as a preference, so if you try to click 'Classify' after completing the Practice Survey, it will reload the Practice instead of loading the Bee Survey. After you select the Bee Survey on the main page, you can access it at any time directly from the Classify tab.

How do I tell the difference between types of pollinators?

Make sure you start with our Practice Survey, which helps you learn how to tell the different species apart. You can compare your answers to our expert identifications in the Field Guide. Feel free to come back to the Practice Survey if you feel like you need more practice!

In both the Practice and the Classification Survey, each pollinator that you click on has a brief description as well as a list of similar species to aid your identification. The filters above the list of options can help to narrow down your choices. We have also included lots of extra information, checklists, and examples in the field guide, which can be found through the tab on the right side of the screen. If you're still unsure, you can post the subject in our Talk board to discuss your ideas with researchers, moderators, and other Zooniverse users.

I can't figure out what pollinator this is. What do I do?

Don't worry! Sometimes the bee might be blurry, too far away, or at an angle where we can't see any identifying markings. Or maybe what you see in the photograph isn't a bumble bee at all! We have several options that you can select if a pollinator type can't be identified even after you look at the field guide.

• If you believe it is a bumble bee but cannot determine, select 'Bumble bee.'
• If you see an insect or other animal that is neither a bumble bee or a carpenter bee, select 'Other Species.'
• If you cannot determine whether the animal is a bumble bee, carpenter bee, or something else, select 'Unknown Species.'
• If you cannot locate any flower visitors in the photograph, select 'Nothing Here.'

Any time that you're unsure about an identification, feel free to post it on our Talk board to discuss the image with researchers and other PolliNation DC contributors.

How do I classify an image that shows multiple flower visitors?

There are two different ways to classify an image with multiple visitors, depending on what you see. If you have identified two or more of the individuals as the same species, there is a question that asks how many bees you see before you can click 'Identify.' Just select the number of bees of that species are in the image. If the individuals are of different species, select as many identifications as you need before clicking 'Next.'

I think I made a mistake. What do I do?

If you are still in the Identification phase and you just selected the wrong species, you can remove your identification by clicking the 'X' at the bottom left of the image. If you have already clicked 'Next,' you have the option to go back and make edits before clicking 'Done.' If you've already clicked 'Done' and moved on to the next image, don't worry! We have multiple people classify every image to make sure the final identification is accurate. Even researchers aren't perfect, which is why it's important to have many other people check our work.