Thursday, April 29, 2010

Spring bee



I'd been under the impression that bumble bees in Michigan overwintered, like honeybees, but only the queen bee hibernates. This makes it likely that the early spring bumblebees are all queens.

I think this one may be a Bombus impatiens but I could be wrong. According to MSU Extension, Michigan has over 15 species of bumblebees. This Bumblebee Identification tool and this Bumblebee ID chart can help distinguish the species.

Bumblebees and other native bees are important pollinators.

1 comment:

Petersons said...
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