Nature Reflections October 14, 2004
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Bumble BeesRobust, hairy insects that are usually yellow and black, bumble bees are easily recognized, or are they? The Carpenter Bee and some flies can be mistaken for a bumble bee, and the Hummingbird or Clearwing Moth can be mistaken for a bumble bee as it hovers over a flower. There are several species of bumble bees, all of which have similar life patterns.
Next spring on a cool day you may find a grounded bumble bee - most probably a queen. The bee cannot take off unless its muscles are warmed up, and to do this, it uncouples its wings so that the wings do not move, and uses its muscles to shiver and raise its thorax temperature. A queen bee with eggs will also warm up the underside of her abdomen to keep her eggs warm. The queen will enter an opening in the soil to lay her eggs in a nest of grass or moss, and feed the developing larvae with nectar and pollen until they develop. First born are the small worker bees that will help the queen build new honeypots and brood cells that produce larger adults.
Disturb the nest and these usually gentle insects will quickly attack, and unlike a Honey Bee, which can only sting once, the bumble bee, can sting many times.
According to our laws of aerodynamics a bumble bee does not have the wing size or the wing beat to be able to fly, but dont tell that to the bee. With two small hind wings attached to the two larger fore wings with hooks, they manage very well! Bumble bees are specialized for gathering nectar and pollen, and different species like different flowers. They need a continual succession of flowers within range of their nests throughout the summer, as they store food for only a few days and are vulnerable to food shortages. Some flowers can only be fertilized by bumble bees. One of these is the Closed or Bottle Gentian - only the bumble bee is strong enough to force its way into the flower to get the prized nectar.
Gathering nectar with its long, hairy tongue, and pollen in the two pollen baskets on its hind legs, the bee will make many trips to many flowers and then back to the nest with its load. All the colony will be females until the end of summer approaches, when some males develop from the larvae. These have only one task - to fly and mate with young queens that have left the nest in preparation for winter, and then they will die. Consider this humble bee as winter approaches. All those you have seen over the summer, busy gathering nectar and pollen from the flowers, will be dead. The only survivors are the fertilized queen bees that have found a protected spot to overwinter. The nest is abandoned and the old queen and all the worker bees die. Life is short in the insect world.
Observations: Syd Brownstein, Kangaroo Pond, saw a Fisher amble across his back yard on September 26. Share what you have seen; call Jean at 268-2518, or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
