Earth Day: Our pollinator coloring sheet
Download free PDF coloring sheets of the Our Pollinators or Least Bell’s Vireo, or click here for a free suncatcher craft (while supplies last).
Pollinators
Pollinators are animals that move pollen from one part of a flower to another to fertilize the flower; producing seeds and the fruit surrounding the seed. 80-95% of native plant species require animals (biotic pollination) to reproduce! Pollinators play a crucial role in creating and maintaining healthy habitats and the ecosystems that provide food and shelter for animals.
Pollinators also provide food for us, by pollinating 1/3 of our agricultural food supply. That means one out of every three bites of food we eat, we can thank a pollinator such as a bee, butterfly, bird, bat, or moth!
pollinators live at and around the Santa Susana Field Lab
Just as environmental pollution harms our pollinators, radioactive and carcinogenic contamination at the Santa Susana Field Lab is harmful for our pollinators, the wildlife, and even the people who live nearby.
Threatened plants such as Braunton’s milkvetch (Astragalus brauntonii) and the Santa Susana Tar Plant (Deinandra minthornii) are important plants for many pollinators. That’s why a full cleanup of the site will help restore the health and habitat, protecting pollinators that keep our ecosystem intact.
our pollinators: monarch butterfly
Adult monarchs feed on the nectar of many flowers, but they must have milkweed to breed and develop into a butterfly. Asclepias erosa is a species of milkweed, known commonly as desert milkweed, and is native to southern California.
Fun Fact: It takes 4-5 generations of Monarch butterflies to migrate between California and Mexico every year. It is unknown how the successive generations of butterflies inherit the information needed to return to the over wintering sites. How do they know where to go?
our pollinators: Hummingbird
Some 7,000 species of plants now depend for pollination on one or more of the 361 known species of hummingbirds! Anna's Hummingbirds (Calypte anna) are the most common of all California hummingbirds and live here year round. They are some of the largest hummingbirds in America!
Fun Fact: Anna’s Hummingbirds are the only species of hummingbirds in America to sing. They make a “chee-chee-chee” song when moving flower to flower!
our pollinators: bumble bees
There are one thousand species of California native bees, with 26 of these being bumble bees. Some of these prolific pollinators, such as Southern California’s Bombus franklini and Bombus occidentalis are endangered.
Fun fact: While bumble bees don’t have a permanent colony like honey bees do, they collect pollen twice as fast as the honey bee. Instead of living in a hive, as honeybees do, bumble bees often live in underground holes!
Least Bell Vireo and Our Pollinators coloring sheets are copyright © 2020 “Parents Against Santa Susana Field Lab.” You may print and share for non-commercial use only.