Lesley Hamamoto, a dedicated biologist from Sacramento, has been awarded the prestigious title of winner in the 2026 Robbin Thorp Memorial First-Bumble-Bee-of-the-Year Contest. She received her prize—an exclusive coffee cup from the Bohart Museum of Entomology—during a recent visit to the museum, which is renowned for its extensive entomological collections. The cup features an illustration of the endangered Franklin’s bumblebee (Bombus franklini), a species studied by the late Professor Robbin Thorp.
A Celebration of Biodiversity
The award presentation took place under the auspices of UC Davis Distinguished Professor Emerita Lynn Kimsey, who directed the Bohart Museum for 34 years, alongside the museum’s education and outreach coordinator, Tabatha Yang. Hamamoto’s impressive achievement stems from her early submission of a photograph capturing a black-tailed bumblebee (Bombus melanopygus) nectaring on manzanita at 9:59 a.m. on January 2, 2026, at the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden.
Participants in the contest must photograph or video the first bumblebee sighting within the two-county area of Yolo and Solano, and submit their images via email to the Bohart Museum. This year, Hamamoto emerged victorious, earning her place in the contest’s history.
Honoring a Legacy
Hamamoto has served as a biologist/botanist with the California Department of Water Resources since 2008 and is a proud alumna of UC Davis. Her passion for pollinators and native plants has driven her involvement with the California Bumble Bee Atlas, and she currently holds the position of president of the Sacramento Valley Chapter of the California Native Plant Society.
Reflecting on her connection to Professor Thorp, she recalls taking a course titled “Natural History of Insects,” taught by him during her freshman year in 1998. Thorp, a staunch advocate for pollinator conservation, had a significant influence on her career and passion for bumblebees. His work included monitoring the population of Franklin’s bumblebee along the California-Oregon border for over two decades, with his last observation occurring in 2006. It is now feared that this species is extinct.
The First-Bumble-Bee-of-the-Year Contest, established in 2021, serves as a tribute to Thorp, who passed away in 2019 at the age of 85. His lifetime dedication to the study and conservation of bumblebees is memorialized through this initiative, which encourages public engagement and awareness of these vital pollinators. Every January, Thorp eagerly anticipated the first sighting of a bumblebee, a tradition that continues through this contest.
As Hamamoto holds her prize cup, she not only celebrates her own achievement but also honors the legacy of a remarkable scientist who dedicated his life to understanding and protecting the fragile ecosystems that bumblebees represent.
