Bumblebees a Common Sight Now

by Kevin Strauss

If you spend much time outdoors, you have seen bumblebees lately. These round, furry bees have been active all summer, but there populations are so low early in summer that you may not have noticed them. By August, queen bumble bees have laid enough eggs that have grown into larvae and then into adult bumble bees that we notice them in our flower gardens and lawns.

These large fuzzy bumblebees are well-insulated against our sometimes cool summer mornings. That means that bumblebees can get out earlier in the morning to start looking for sugary flower nectar. Bumblebees have long tongue (called a probiscus) that helps them drink nectar from snapdragons, red clover and other long, narrow flowers.

Unlike honey bees who build their nests in hollow trees, bumblebee queens prefer a subterranean lifestyle. Fertile queen bumblebees (Bombus species) spend the winter hibernating in an underground burrow. In the Spring, the female emerges and looks for a larger abode, often an abandoned mouse or chipmunk burrow.

Bumblebees, like their relatives the honey bees, are a communal species. Contrary to popular belief, most bee species are solitary rather than living in a communal hive like bumblebees and honey bees. The bumblebee queen forms a wax container that she fills with honey. She then makes a wax egg chamber. She puts pollen in the chamber and lays eggs on top. She then sits on the eggs to keep them warm until they hatch. The young eat pollen until they grown into adults. During the summer, the adults are infertile females and they help the queen gather food and care for the young. While workers in a honey bee hive can number in the thousands, workers in a bumblebee hive more likely number in the dozens.

Bumblebees don’t seem to be as aggressive as wasps and even some honey bees, unless you accidently step on their nest.
Ten years ago, when I was hiking though a maple woods with a group of children, we accidentally stepped on a bumblebee ground nest. It was then that these normally calm yellow and black “teddy bears of the air” showed their grizzly side. They flew from their ground nest and started stinging our group. We ran and lucky for us, the bees gave up the chase after about thirty yards. When angered, bumble bees can be more of a threat than honeybees, since bumblebees can sting repeatedly while honeybees can only sting once.

The best strategy when attacked by any bee is to run. Bees don’t have great eyesight, and once you are 100 feet or more from the hive, the bees will likely leave you alone.

The Ely Timberjay