Lesley Hamamoto of Sacramento has been named the winner of the 2026 Robbin Thorp Memorial First-Bumble-Bee-of-the-Year Contest, an annual event organized by the Bohart Museum of Entomology at UC Davis. Hamamoto captured a photograph of a black-tailed bumble bee (Bombus melanopygus) feeding on manzanita flowers at 9:59 a.m. on January 2 in the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden.
The contest recognizes the first person to photograph or video a bumble bee in Yolo or Solano counties each year and submit the image to the Bohart Museum. Hamamoto, who works as a biologist and botanist with California’s Department of Water Resources, is also an alumna and former employee of UC Davis.
Hamamoto is active in native plant and pollinator conservation efforts. She volunteers with the California Bumble Bee Atlas and serves as president of the Sacramento Valley Chapter of the California Native Plant Society. Her prize for winning this year’s contest is a coffee cup featuring Franklin’s bumble bee, a species once monitored by Robbin Thorp that is now feared extinct.
Hamamoto recalled her connection to Thorp from her undergraduate days: “We did a honey varietal tasting during that class and I always remember that he told us that yellow starthistle honey was his favorite flavor. I have to agree that it’s the one good thing about invasive yellow starthistle! I didn’t realize until I started reading and researching more about bumble bees that Dr. Thorp was really THE authority on bumbles in California. I feel very lucky to have had that opportunity to learn from him.”
The contest began in 2021 as a tribute to Professor Robbin Thorp (1933-2019), who spent decades advocating for pollinator protection and authored several books on bees. Though retired after three decades at UC Davis, Thorp continued his research until shortly before his death at age 85.
“I was so excited to find several bumble bees on Friday!” Hamamoto said. “I have wanted to participate in the first-bumble-bee-of-the-year contest since it began in 2021.” She noted she watched for sunny weather before heading out specifically to find early blooming manzanitas likely to attract bumble bees.
Previous winners include Nancy Hansen (2024), Ria deGrassi (2023), Maureen Page and Ellen Zagory (tie, 2022), and Charlie Casey Nicholson (2021). The Bohart Bumble Bee Committee includes Lynn Kimsey, Tabatha Yang, and Kathy Keatley Garvey—all colleagues who worked with Thorp.
The Bohart Museum houses over eight million insect specimens from around the world under the direction of Professor Jason Bond, who also serves as executive associate dean for UC Davis’ College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Hamamoto credits her education at UC Davis for sparking her interest in plants: “Field trips to local botanical hotspots such as Stebbens Cold Canyon and Jepson Prairie Preserve, and several years working at the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory being particularly formative experiences.”
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