These outstanding bumble bee photos have been sent to us by Tom Langois. Photographing insects is hard enough, but capturing a very busy bee in flight is amazing! Click to enlarge.
Posted by Pat Bumstead
These outstanding bumble bee photos have been sent to us by Tom Langois. Photographing insects is hard enough, but capturing a very busy bee in flight is amazing! Click to enlarge.
Posted by Pat Bumstead
These amazing creatures are back this summer: same time and on the same flowers. I am pretty sure you are right in that they are the Nevada Bumble Bee (Bombus nevadensis nevadensis). Thanks again for helping me identify them.
I am wondering what kind of bumble bee this is? I have a few of these in my yard. They especially enjoy my delphiniums and perennial sweet peas.
Hi Deborah,
I took a look through my insect ID book and was able to determine that this bumblebee is most likely the Nevada Bumble Bee (Bombus nevadensis nevadensis) but could also be the Red Belted Bumble Bee (Bombus rufocintus). There are a couple of photos where it appears to have an orange/reddish band at the front end of the abdomen, but I can’t tell if that’s real or an artefact of the lighting conditions. Most likely though, it’s the Nevada Bumble Bee.
Hope that helps!
Hello birdscalgary !
Thank you for your reply. It is so nice to put a name to one of my bumblebees. I would include a photo of the BB from my garden that looks like Pat Bumstead’s photos (above) but I am not sure how. Funny when I look at Pat’s photos because I have many of the same on the same color of flower from my garden. I am thinking these BB’s really love this color of delphinium! Before you put a name to this BB for me today, I was calling them either Teddy Bear BB’s because they are so BIG & fuzzy or Sweet Pea BB’s because they LOVE my perennial sweet peas! Also strange is that they are only in my gardens starting the very end of July/ beginning of August every year. Exactly when my delphiniums and sweet peas are in full boom. I often wonder if they are migrating or something because, afterall, where could they be for the other time of the spring and summer. Thanks again. Nature Matters!
Deborah