2026 winner declared!
The first Bombus huntii was observed on March 13th by an anonymous 8 year old at a school and reported to her teacher (a former student in our lab!). See this little silly collage for this year’s “report”
Background
Starting in 2023, the lab initiated an “Annual First Bumble Bee of the Year Contest”.
The rules are simple, find a bumble bee (and prove it) before anyone else in Larimer County, Colorado and/or on the CSU Campus, and you win a pitcher of beer (or its equivalent) at a Mola Lab Happy Hour, where you will be the guest of honor.
Contest Details
Details for the 2026 contest in this image below!
Previous Winners
2025
In 2025 we officially initiated the awarding of two winners. One for the first bumble bee observed on campus and another for Larimer county generally.
The first bumble bee observed was the general Larimer county bee – observed by Lizzy Rodelius (GDPE Master’s student) while walking a cute doggy near Warren Lake on March 24th. It was a Bombus huntii queen observed sort of lazily crawling around. Bee and dog continued on unharmed.
The second first bumble bee observed was an exciting observation of Bombus occidentalis by Megan Fenner on campus on April 9th. This queen was seen foraging on Golden Currant (Ribes aureum) near some dorms on campus. This was rather exciting as B. occidentalis is a species of conservation concern – however, also somewhat unsurprising as for reasons unknown, 2023 was a very productive year for B. occidentalis on campus.
2024
In 2024 we declared two winners!
Rylee McMillan, Forest and Rangeland Stewardship undergrad, made the very first sighting – a Bombus pensylvanicus (American Bumble Bee) queen observed on a concrete sidewalk on March 9 (right).
Because of this odd sighting on a sidewalk and exceptionally early, we decided to keep the winner secret until another sighting occurred.
The second winner was Anders Hastings, FRS undergrad, who observed a Bombus huntii (Hunt’s Bumble Bee) queen on Townsendia hookeri (Easter Daisy) on March 21 near Dixon Reservoir on the west side of town.
2023
Janet Hardin of CSU’s Agricultural Biology Department became the first winner after observing a Bombus huntii queen on April 9th, 2023.
The queen was foraging on Townsendia hookeri in the foothills on the edge of Fort Collins. Fittingly, the Townsendia hookeri is known as Easter Daisy, and Janet’s observation was made Easter morning.
