Info From Pollinator Partnership Canada
Birds, bats, bees, butterflies, beetles, and other small mammals that pollinate plants are responsible for bringing us one out of every three bites of food. They also sustain our ecosystems and produce our natural resources by helping plants reproduce.
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About Pollinators*
Without the actions of pollinators, agricultural economies, our food supply, and surrounding landscapes would collapse.
Birds, bats, bees, butterflies, beetles, and other small mammals that pollinate plants are responsible for bringing us one out of every three bites of food. They also sustain our ecosystems and produce our natural resources by helping plants reproduce.
Who Are Pollinators
Birds, bats, butterflies, moths, flies, wasps, and most importantly, bees are pollinators. They visit flowers to drink nectar or feed off of pollen and transport pollen grains as they move from one flower to the next.
Learn about common pollinators: bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.
Bees
Bees are the best documented pollinators in natural and agricultural landscapes. There are over 800 species of native ground and twig nesting bees in Canada. Bees come in a variety of body shapes and sizes, and even have tongues of different lengths.
Native bees visit the widest range of flowers and crops of any pollinator group.
Butterflies
Butterflies prefer open and sunny areas such as meadows and along woodland edges that provide bright flowers, water sources, and specific host plants for their caterpillars. Butterflies need open areas (e.g., bare earth, large stones) where they can bask, and moist soil from which they wick needed minerals.
By providing a safe place to eat and nest, gardeners can also support the pollination role that butterflies play in the landscape.
Hummingbirds
Hummingbirds are the primary birds that play a role in pollination in North America. Their long beaks and tongues draw nectar from tubular flowers. Pollen is carried on both their beaks and feathers. The Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) is the only common species in Ontario.
Hummingbirds play an important role in the food web, pollinating a variety of flowering plants, some of which are specifically adapted to pollination by hummingbirds.
Threats To Pollinators
Pollinator populations face multiple threats that impact their ability to thrive and survive including habitat loss, climate change, misuse of pesticides, parasites and pathogens, and invasive species.
Together, these factors have contributed to shrinking and shifting pollinator populations, particularly insect pollinators. There is often not enough data to clearly determine cause and effect, which is even more concerning.
Pollinators benefit from even small actions, and we all have a role to play in helping them.
