If You Plant It, They Will Come

“Birding is kind of like Pokemon,” Anthony Colangelo says. “Once you get a really good picture of one, you kind of want to take pictures of them all.”

Anthony, however, is not a professional wildlife photographer, nor does his work centre on the collectible-like nature of a graceful bird portrait. Instead, Anthony is an Education and Outreach Specialist for Pollinator Partnership, a US nonprofit and Canadian charity dedicated to protecting pollinators.

So, why the birds?

Birds, moths, bats, bees, and a thousand other insects are crucial pollinators. The food we eat, the wildflowers lining our gardens, and the carbon-storing trees on which we rely all depend on the continued existence of pollinators.

Anthony is young and energetic. He passionately intertwines his organisation's work with his extensive knowledge of the natural world. For his fourth-year thesis at university, he studied parental care behaviours in tree swallows, an interest that led him into the wide world of pollinator advocacy.

Insects are our bread and butter, literally. Nearly 75% of the fruits, vegetables, and seeds we eat depend on your friendly neighbourhood pollinator; however, bee and butterfly populations have declined by 80% in North America alone. Scientists estimate the loss of these populations is responsible for 500,000 deaths a year due to the reduced food supply.

A shortage of bees doesn’t just mean fewer unappealing smears on your windshield; it means the eventual collapse of our world’s abundant food resources.

But Pollinator Partnership is working on a few solutions.

Founded in 1997 by Laurie Davis Adams, Pollinator Partnership brought the public's attention to an unfamiliar topic. Recently retired, Lori no longer heads up the organisation, but her work continues with an international team from the United States and Canada, all dedicated to preserving and protecting pollinators.

“All of our work is specifically for pollinator conservation,” Anthony explains. “We do this through outreach, education, and actually implementing habitats. We work with everyone who is interested in pollinators, and we invite everyone to the table to participate in those conversations.”

Today, Pollinator Partnership leads a variety of programmes, from policy legislation in Washington, D.C., to community-based action and even agricultural education.  

For instance, NAPPC is their North American Pollinator Protection Campaign, an annual campaign they host annually in Washington, DC. Originally a small, niche conference, NAPPC has now grown to a host of over 200 people, returning year after year to participate and promote new projects.  

Anthony leads the Pollinator Stewards Certification programme, an online course that teaches the scientific know-how to help pollinators. “We teach folks everything from the basics of what pollination is and why it's important, all the way to more technical presentations on how to implement habitats in different levels of landscape,” he shares.

Over 1,000 people have completed the course in the past year alone.

“The part that I especially enjoy is that folks need to use what they've learned in order to get their certificate and then actually apply it in their own communities. They need to accomplish one habitat action and one outreach action, and then they're certified as pollinator stewards,” Anthony explains. His enthusiasm and personal passion for the subject are infectious; he even has a favourite pollinator: the beautiful orange-rumped bumblebee (please admire above).

“Once we learn about how important pollinators are, the best thing we can do for them is plant native habitats,” he says.

“Pollinators face a variety of stressors that all act on them at once. Things like habitat fragmentation, loss of habitat, climate change, pests and diseases, and improper pesticide use. All that stress on them at the same time is really harmful.”

Providing pollinators with the nutrients they need to survive is crucial. Planting native habitats, meaning those plants that bees, butterflies, and local species have co-evolved with, provide the best potential for them to survive. Birds, moths, and other pollinators often travel large distances to find appropriate areas to rest and eat, particularly when large swaths of roads and suburban lawns break up their habitats. Planting even a small border of local wildflowers offers respite to a weary butterfly, giving them the energy they need to fly to their next stop.

I mention the beauty of many North American moth species, and Anthony stops and gives some wild facts on moths, changing my view on the creatures forever. “You're probably referring to the giant silk moths with the crazy patterning. Do you know that those don't have any mouths or digestive systems? So those big silk moths, like the Luna moth or the big Polyphemus moths, are not actually pollinators because, in their moth form, their sole purpose is to just mate; they only have reproductive organs,” he explains, thereby changing my views on the creatures forever and proving that pollinator education is obviously necessary.

Our interview finishes with a sincere plea from Anthony: “We, our organisation, do incredible work, and any support that we can get for our programmes goes a long way: we love the work that we do, and we want to keep doing it.”

And he’s adamant that even the smallest actions on our part can make a huge difference. “No amount of habitat, we like to say, is too small either. Even if you live in an apartment, a couple of potted plants on your balcony can make a difference,” he says.

“If you plant them, they will come.”