Volunteers can collect data in two ways.
Incidental observations are casual or unplanned sightings made when your primary motive or activity was not monitoring for bumble bees. This also includes observations made immediately before or after a small area survey. All incidental observations require a photograph voucher.
Small area surveys are conducted when you purposefully look for, photograph, count, and record the bumble bees that you see at a single location, following the guidelines in the Volunteer Manual. We recommend conducting small area surveys with a partner or small group. If you conducted a survey and did not observe any bumble bees, please still submit a record of your survey.