Lesley Hamamoto, a biologist and botanist with the California Department of Water Resources, has been awarded the Franklin’s Bumble Bee coffee cup after winning the 2026 Robbin Thorp Memorial First-Bumble-Bee-of-the-Year Contest. The contest is organized annually by the Bohart Museum of Entomology at UC Davis.
Hamamoto, who previously worked for seven years at UC Davis and is president of the Sacramento Valley Chapter of the California Native Plant Society, photographed a black-tailed bumble bee (Bombus melanopygus) on manzanita at 9:59 a.m. on January 2 in the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden. Her entry was recognized as the first documented bumble bee sighting of the year in Yolo or Solano County.
The award—a coffee cup decorated with an image of Franklin’s bumble bee (Bombus franklini)—commemorates both the species, which is now feared extinct, and Professor Robbin Thorp, who monitored its populations for decades along the northern California-southern Oregon border until his last observation in 2006. Thorp was a prominent advocate for pollinator conservation and continued his research into retirement until his death in 2019.
During her visit to the Bohart Museum to receive her prize, Hamamoto also viewed preserved specimens of Franklin’s bumble bee. The cup was presented by Lynn Kimsey, UC Davis Distinguished Professor Emerita and former director of the museum, along with Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator.
Other recent winners include Michael Kwong and Kaylen Teves for 2025; Julia Luckenbill took second place this year after photographing a yellow-faced bumble bee (Bombus vosnesenskii) on January 3 at West Davis Pond.
Since its start in 2021, several individuals have received recognition through this contest for their early-year bumble bee sightings across Yolo and Solano counties. The contest began as an informal effort led by Professor Thorp to encourage local enthusiasts to document pollinator activity at the start of each year.
The Bohart Museum houses over eight million insect specimens from around the world. Its current director is Jason Bond, professor and Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair of Systematics in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
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