Bumblebees

Bumblebees are large, fuzzy, very hairy insects that look like mini grizzly bears in black and yellow colors. They are considered to be one of the best pollinators. Bumblebees are extremely important foragers.  Unlike honeybees, they are able to forage under cold, rainy and cloudy conditions.  This makes them excellent pollinators of native plants and a variety of crops.  Female bumblebees have the stingers and the males, well they don’t. Nests of 50 to 400 individuals can be found in dry, protected and hidden cavities above or below the ground. They do not damage wood or other structural components as carpenter bees will. Only fertile queens that mated the previous year survive winter and build a nest. The queen leaves the nest to gather pollen and nectar which is used to feed to the grubs. Then the new worker bees assume the role of nest maintenance, construction and collecting pollen and nectar to feed the nest members. In the late summer the queen will lay eggs that will become reproductive males and females. Bumblebees rarely sting unless touched or their nest is threatened or disturbed.

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