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| Photo by Kimberly Sheahan Bombus nevadensis #1 |
The bumble bee’s scientific name is Bombus and prior to the 1920’s they were more often called “humble bees” due to the soft droning noise they emit. Unfortunately, a few articles in the 1920’s referred to them as bumble bees and the new name took. (I personally vote that the internet reclaim the common name humble bee to refer to these fuzzy pollinators.)
Bombus is an unsung hero in the pollinator world, often ignored in favor of the honey bee. Studies have shown that for many crops, pollination by bumble bees produces bigger fruit, faster fruit set, and larger yields than other pollination methods. They are more effective pollinators of some important crops, specifically those with flowers requiring buzz pollination. (*)
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| Photo by Kimberly Sheahan Bombus nevadensis #4 |
These plants include tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, potatoes and even some berries like blueberries. Buzz pollination is when they buzz their wings at a frequency that shakes the pollen out of the anthers. Bumble bees not only visit twice as many flowers per minute as honey bees, they also can remain active in colder temperatures allowing them to do at least eight times more work than a honey bee. (*)
A common Bombus in Colorado is the Bombus nevadensis. The queens are about an inch in size and hard to miss. They particularly love to pollinate Penstemons as photographed here:
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| Photo by Kimberly Sheahan Bombus nevadensis #2 |
Bombus ternarius can also be seen humming around your garden. The orange stripe is their most distinguishing feature to tell them apart from Bombus nevadensis.
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| Photo by Kimberly Sheahan Bombus ternarius |
Typically you’ll see queens early in the season as they emerge from winter hibernation and begin searching for a nest site. Once a suitable site is established, the queen will collect pollen and nectar. When the nest is sufficiently stocked with pollen and nectar, the queen will lay eggs on the pollen mass and incubate them by covering the eggs with her abdomen. The queen stays in the nest from this point on and about a month after they are laid the first batch of eggs will have developed into adult workers. (*)
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Find out more about The Bumble Bees of Colorado here: https://www.colorado.edu/cumuseum/sites/default/files/attached-files/thebumblebeesofcolorado-2017.pdf
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Keep an eye out in your garden for these super pollinators and you can find out more about attracting Bombus and other native bees to your landscape here:
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(*) Information in these paragraphs is from The Bees in Your Backyard by Joseph Wilson & Olivia Messinger Carril