A mild winter means more bumblebees in Utah, a researcher says. Particularly, one rare species that previously only had 129 bees has been seen by the dozens in one Utah city alone. This news is hopeful because, generally, bumblebees have been in decline nationwide.

Read the story in the Deseret News, here.

The story on the Utah bumblebee boom has created a lot of buzz itself, but not a single story identifies which species of bumblebee has experienced the spring population bump. I contacted the researcher, but he did not respond.

If your state also experienced a mild winter, this may be the year to search for rare bumblebee species.

Photo: bumblebee by Laura Perlick, courtesy US Fish and Wildlife