Category: Bumblebees

Bumble Bees of North America

1/17/2015

    When I first began keeping bees (almost ten years ago) I also began taking more notice of the diversity of native bees that visited our yard, especially the extremely photogenic bombus. What was frustrating is that it was very difficult to ID the bees, and there was no North American guide to bumblebees available.
    Xerces society offers handy pocket ID charts as well as these information packed guides for Western and Eastern United States (free pdf downloads).
   News Flash: Princeton Press just released the first comprehensive guide to all 46 North American bumble bees. It's jam-packed with color photos (of live bees too! not just bees on pins), color pattern variation diagrams, distribution maps, taxonomy, and latest molecular research. The introduction includes photos of insects who mimic bumble bees, habitat and foraging facts, and how to use the guide.
   Bumble Bees of North America is a wonderful resource for all backyard beepeekers and gardeners.

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Bombus: Defying laws of physics-or not?

7/26/2014

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The blackberry patch on our hillside is definitely a bee magnet; some days I'll see five different species of bombus in addition to the honeybees, mason bees, and bee mimics.

Thank you bees...blackberry pies will be enjoyed in abundance this autumn!

Have you ever heard that bumblebees should not be able to fly as it would defy the laws of physics? This story is a myth, but it is based on the science of how airplanes fly by creating lift with the angle of their wings.

It turns out that bumblebees are not built like airplanes; Karl Smallwood explains that the way that bumblebees fly is "...by rotating their wings, which creates pockets of low air pressure, which in turn create small eddies above the bee’s wing which lift it into the air and, thus, grant it the ability to fly." In essence, they create mini-hurricanes and ride them out.

Bee ID: top Bombus melanopygus;
middle and bottom no confirmation ID (yet)

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