Bumble bees, the teddy bears of the insect world, aren’t just cute–they’re pollinating powerhouses.
The first bumble bees that visit our gardens each spring are typically queens, big bees gorging themselves on nectar and pollen after a winter of hibernation. They eat to build their health and muster the strength to lay eggs. When their larvae hatch, queens feed them a mixture of nectar and pollen. Later in the season, when the larvae become adult worker bees and drones, she retreats to her nest to be fed by the smaller bees.
Five species of bumble bees live in the Catskills, ranging from the common eastern bumblebee, a valued helper for commercial greenhouses, to the distinctive tri-colored variety found in mountainous country but absent from the valley. Unlike honey bees, which will sting to protect their hives, bumble bees aren’t aggressive. They nest in small groups in out-of-the-way areas on or in the ground.
The common eastern bumble bee (Bombus impatiens) is able to buzz-pollinate flowers to gather pollen hidden deep inside past small openings where honey bees can’t reach. The bumble bee hangs under the flower and vibrates its wing muscles without moving its wings, shaking the pollen loose to fall through the opening. It sweeps most of the pollen that lands on its body into the long hairs on its back legs, known as pollen baskets. What isn’t collected in the pollen baskets clings to the bee’s fur to pollinate the next flowers it visits.
This means the bumble bee can pollinate tomato flowers, which honey bees can’t do. Commercial greenhouse growers in California and Mexico raise colonies of common eastern bumble bees for their greenhouse plants. If you’ve eaten a grocery-store tomato, the odds are good that it grew from a flower pollinated by this bee.
In the wild and in our gardens, the common eastern bumble bee visits a wide range of flowers, both native and introduced. Its medium-length tongue can access nectar in flowers of various shapes and sizes, from apple and crabapple blossoms to goldenrod and milkweed. They will also visit clematis, rose and delphinium flowers, as well as our native wild geraniums, bee balm, black-eyed Susan, violets and many others.
The two-spotted bumble bee (Bombus bimaculatus) is another medium-tongued bee that can buzz-pollinate flowers. It looks and behaves much like the common eastern bumble bee but isn’t quite as numerous and tends to prefer native plants over introduced ones, making it less desirable for greenhouse culture but just as interesting to see in the garden. Two yellow spots on the back of its abdomen, just behind the solid yellow thorax, distinguish it from other bumble bees. Gardeners who cultivate native plants such as serviceberries, shrubby St. John’s wort, great blue lobelia, bluebells or anise hyssop may see this bee nectaring on the flowers.
The brown-belted bumble bee (Bombus griseocollis) is a short-tongued bee that visits a wide range of flowers with shallow throats. Good sources of nectar and pollen for these bees are composite flowers that have clusters of tiny flowers in their centers surrounded by ray petals that offer a landing pad. Some examples are purple coneflower, black-eyed Susan and our many native aster species.
Shrubs and perennials with clusters of small flowers, like viburnums, hydrangeas, milkweed and golden Alexanders, also attract them, as will tubular flowers they can buzz-pollinate, such as bee balm and penstemons. These bees are most common in riparian areas and are often seen around the Ashokan Reservoir and along Esopus Creek, identifiable by the belt of amber-brown hairs between their yellow upper body and black abdomen.
The tri-colored bumble bee (Bombus ternarius) is instantly recognizable by its flashy orange belt. This is another short-tongued bee especially drawn to goldenrod, milkweed, and the flowers of blackberries, raspberries and blueberries. Almost never observed in lower-lying areas of the Hudson Valley, it prefers cool conditions. In the Catskills, it’s most often seen in the mountains around Tannersville, with a few sightings near Woodstock, Bearsville and Jewett.
The perplexing bumble bee (Bombus perplexus) is sometimes known as the confusing bumble bee. It’s a yellow-and-black bee that can easily be mistaken for the common eastern bumble bee or the two-spotted bumble bee. Its distinguishing characteristic is a larger area of yellow fur extending partway down its abdomen. A medium-tongued bee that likes crabapple, hydrangea, rhododendron and berry flowers, it’s not common but is sometimes sighted near the Ashokan Reservoir in Olivebridge and Shokan and occasionally near Woodstock.
Margaret Tomlinson is a contributing writer. You can send her an email at reporting@theoverlooknews.com.
