I am excited to announce that I have received a grant from @insidenatgeo ! As a #NatGeoExplorer I will be creating a book that features original photographs and documents rare native bees throughout California. Learn more about my work in the link in my bio.
Photo credit: @bvanderbrug
The ABCs of California’s Native Bees was named one of the 5 best science books of 2025 by the @latimes
I'm so incredibly honored!
Special shootout to @alieward@ologies
I'm truly honored to be featured alongside these amazing science communicators @itsafronomics@authormaryroach and @justindgregg
#beesip #heydaybooks #latimes
🐝 We’ve all heard “save the bees” — but honeybees are a red herring, drawing attention away from the real pollinator solution: diverse ecosystems where native bees can thrive.
Photographer Krystle Hickman (@BeeSip ) has spent years observing bees up close, documenting their lives in gardens, wildlands, and post-fire landscapes. 📸 Through that attention, a clearer picture emerges: many “bee-friendly” practices are actually designed for honeybees — a small group of non-native species introduced for their agricultural value — not the thousands of native bee species that are often solitary, highly specialized, and deeply interdependent on native landscapes.
🌼 “Complexity creates resilience — when ecosystems are allowed to function, they start taking care of themselves,” says Hickman.
In this conversation with Bioneers, Hickman shares what she’s observed firsthand: when we prioritize habitat, biodiversity, and whole ecosystems over single-species solutions, resilience follows.
🔗 Explore the full conversation at link in bio @Bioneers
📸: All photos credited to Krystle Hickman
There are more than 20,000 bee species around the world.
Bees live in habitats from low deserts to towering mountain ranges. Some nest in stems, others collect pebbles, and a few even buzz pollinate. Many are smaller than a grain of rice, yet each plays a unique role in maintaining the health of entire ecosystems.
Protecting native bees means protecting the habitats they call home. Follow me, @BeeSip , to see more native bee species.
— In the field with bee conservationist and #NatGeoExplorer Krystle Hickman
Alongside a road in the desert, Ghost Flowers (Mohavea confertiflora) mimic the appearance of Sand Blazing Star Flowers (Mentzelia involucrata) with females in them, tricking male bees into trying to mate with them.
#cygnustechdiffuser #macrophotography #natgeo #entomology #nativebees #bees #pollinators #insectphotography #flowers #savethebees #bee #insects #insidenatgeo #insectsofinstagram #conservationphotography #PBSSoCal #nikon #xeralictus #ghostflower #inaturalist #mentzelia #nikonusa #beesip #WildlifePhotography
Couldn't make it to the Plants and Pollinators session at the CNPS Conference? Don't worry, we took lots of notes from this great group of presenters.
Here are 5 key takeaways! 🌼🦋🐝🐛
Sources: Tara Cornelisse Status of Pollinators in the United States and Canada; Krystle Hickman, The ABCs of California’s Native Bees and the Plant Life They Sustain; Lief Richardson, Bumble bees (Bombus) Are Critical Pollinators of California Native Plants
🌿: Silver Lupine (Lupinus albifrons), Seaside Daisy (Erigeron glaucus), Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia), Dutchman's Pipe (Aristolochia)
🐝: Yellow-faced bumble bee (Bombus vosnesenskii), Mylitta crescent (Phyciodes mylitta), Chaparral yucca moth (Tegeticula maculata), Pipevine swallowtail (Battus philenor)
📸: Elizabeth Tallent, looking4salvia via iNaturalist
While visiting Borrego Springs in Southern California's Colorado Desert, I filmed Lasioglossum (Dialictus) bees going about their day. This species of Dialictus is primitively eusocial, similar to eusocial bees like bumble bees, meaning they live in a colony with a queen/foundress and workers. However, these colonies are smaller than those, and visually, the workers and the foundress can look indistinguishable. Workers can help the foundress raise her brood, but may also focus on raising their own offspring.
Shout out to @j.dingdingding for filming me.
#cygnustechdiffuser #insect #macrophotography #natgeo #macro #entomology #nativebees #bees #pollinators #insectphotography #flowers #savethebees #insectphotography #bee #insects #bug #insidenatgeo #insectsofinstagram #pollinator #conservationphotography #nikon #lasioglossum #dialictus #sweatbee #verbena #burrow #borregosprings #beesip
🐝 Can you spot the difference between a honeybee and a native bee? Do you know the distinct roles they play in your food system and landscape?
Krystle Hickman (@BeeSip ) leans in close to document the outstanding diversity of native bees in habitats near her home in Southern California.
She’s on a quest to help the world see — and protect — the 20,000+ wild bee species that aren’t kept for honey, most of which are solitary, ground-nesting, and highly specialized to specific plants and ecosystems.
As climate change, habitat loss, and land-use decisions reshape those ecosystems, many of these native bees are quietly disappearing, underestimated and unnoticed.
🔗 👉🏼 In this conversation, Hickman shares how we can all learn to pay attention to native bees, in turn protecting entire ecosystems: Link in bio @Bioneers
📸: All photos credited to Krystle Hickman
LA! On Saturday 10/25 I’ll be in Pasadena chatting with photographer, writer & #IndigenousMelittology guest THE Krystle Hickman aka @beesip about her STUNNING new book, “The ABCs of California’s Native Bees,” which is something you need to own — it’s one of the most gorgeously crafted nature books I’ve ever seen. Come hang out and get your copy signed on Saturday in Pasadena. Here’s the link to the free event, plus other book launch events of hers coming up: /events/ And listen to her 2023 episode by searching native bees + ologies where you get podcasts
Who’s coming to say hi?
