Uninvited, Underrated, and Up All Night: Meet the Real Pollinator Party Crew

Bees get all the glory, but they’re not the only ones pollinating your plants. Meet the weird, wild, and nocturnal guests keeping nature buzzing.

Pollinator Week Is June 16-22, 2025. Let’s Give the Bugs (and Bats and Beetles) Some Credit.

Every June, Pollinator Week rolls around — and like clockwork, the spotlight shines on honeybees and monarchs. And yeah, they totally deserve it. But if we’re throwing a real-deal pollinator party? We need to widen the guest list.

Because behind the scenes — and sometimes after the sun sets — there’s a whole crew of overlooked, underappreciated, and somewhat bizarre pollinators doing the work. Some are strange. Some are winged. Some arrive dressed like bees but are definitely not.

The A-List: Famous Pollinators Who Still Deserve Your Attention

Okay, honeybees and butterflies are the Beyoncés and Taylors of the pollinator world. Everyone knows them. Everyone loves them. But they’re also facing real trouble.

• Honeybees (the European kind, anyway) are not native to North America, but they still play a big role in agriculture. The catch? They’re dealing with colony collapse, pesticides, parasites — basically, a buffet of bad news.

• Monarch butterflies are literal migration champs, flying thousands of miles from Mexico to Canada and back. But habitat loss and climate shifts are shrinking their range and food supply.

• Native bees (like bumblebees, mason bees, and leafcutter bees) are actually way more efficient at pollination than honeybees — but they get way less press. Some species are now listed as endangered.

Bottom line: the A-listers still need our help. But they’re not the only ones working the pollination scene.

The Underdogs: Pollinators You’ve Totally Overlooked

Now we’re getting to the real fun — the weirdos doing big work with zero fame.

• Beetles were the original pollinators, cruising through magnolias before bees were even a thing. They’re messy, often smelly, and not exactly delicate — but they’re essential for many native plants.

• Hoverflies look like bees in disguise but are actually harmless fly cousins. They’re ace pollinators and their larvae eat aphids. Heroes, honestly.

• Wasps get a bad rap, but many are low-key pollinators. Fig wasps even have a whole mutual love story with fig trees (seriously, look it up — it’s wild).

• Ants aren’t super efficient, but in dry, sandy ecosystems, they help pollinate ground-level flowers while they’re out foraging.

• Midges — tiny, gnat-like insects — are the reason we have chocolate. No midges = no cacao pollination. No chocolate = no fun.

The Night Shift: Pollinators That Party After Dark

When the sun goes down, a different kind of pollinator party begins.

• Moths are like butterflies’ goth cousins. Many species are major pollinators, especially for night-blooming flowers like evening primrose or yucca. Their fuzzy bodies are great for pollen transfer, and some have tongues longer than their bodies.

• Bats are crucial pollinators in desert and tropical ecosystems. They help pollinate agave, bananas, guava, and mangoes — which means we basically owe tequila to bats. Cheers.

• Nocturnal beetles and other crawlers also get in on the action, particularly in damp or tropical environments.

Want to see the night crew in action? Try sitting quietly in your yard just after dusk near a patch of white or pale-colored flowers.

Field Tip: Don’t Just Save the Bees — Host the Whole Party

If you want to make your yard or balcony more pollinator-friendly this summer, think big. Or rather, think diverse.

Here’s how to set the vibe:

• Plant variety = pollinator buffet. Choose native flowers that bloom at different times, in different shapes and heights. Diversity means everyone gets a seat at the table.

• Leave the leaves. That messy corner of your yard might be perfect habitat for moths, beetles, or solitary bees.

• Add white or pale flowers. Night pollinators are drawn to lighter blooms that reflect moonlight.

• Don’t use pesticides. Even “organic” ones can mess with the bugs you want to attract.

• Let some stuff go wild. A little chaos is good. Aster, goldenrod, milkweed — these plants are like neon signs for all kinds of pollinators.

So yeah — bees are (way) cool. But the pollinator world is way bigger, weirder, and more wonderful than most people realize.

This week, lift a glass (of bat-pollinated agave, maybe?) to the whole crew — the beetles, the wasps, the winged night shift and all.

Because biodiversity doesn’t just look good — it works hard.