Hi everyone! This is Part Two of my Three Different Bee Species. Part One can be seen here if interested.
Part One was all about Honey Bees and now Part Two is all about the Common Eastern Bumble Bee. There are over 250 species of bumble bees and they come in different sizes, and some have different color hairs on their abdomen. This particular species (Bombus impatiens) that I am showing you is the most often seen bumble bee in North America. All bumble bees are important pollinators of flowers, and fruit and vegetable crops.
The Common Eastern Bumble bee is distinguished from others by its yellow hairs between the neck and the abdomen which is called the thorax. It is typical to see a shiny black bald spot in the center. Also, the abdomen is covered with all black hairs on each segment. Some bumble bees have black and yellow hairs on their abdomen.
The colony begins in the spring with one bee, the Queen. She makes a shallow nest in the ground under piles of wood, in compost piles, or finds an abandoned rodents nest and lays her eggs. All eggs laid will become sterile females called worker bees, as the colony continues to grow. The worker bees fly from flower to flower, sipping nectar for energy and collecting pollen.
Common Eastern Bumble Bee in flight.
You never see a bumble bee resting but this one worked so hard it needed to rest. Look at how full that pollen basket is!
When they collect pollen grains, they store them in special pouches on their back legs which are called pollen baskets. Once the baskets are full, they go back to the colony to deliver the pollen.
Pollen covered Common Eastern Bumble Bee inside an Hibiscus flower.
Towards the end of the season, male bumble bees and a new queen are born. At the end of the season the males and the new queen leave the colony to find mates. After males mate, they die. All of the worker bees and the original queen also dies at the end of the season. After the new queen mates, she eats a lot, hibernates during the winter and begins the cycle anew in the spring.
Please be kind to Bumble Bees of all species and remember how important they are to us and our ecosystem.
Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for Part 3!
All photos are my own.
Information Source: livescience.com, ufl.edu, insectidentification.org