Katherine Bickford

I had a bit of fun watching the bumble bees flying about as they gather pollen – it’s quite amazing how industrious and capable they are.

I was pretty sure that these are in fact bumble bees (or bumblebees) and not honey bees, as they have a fat and furry appearance, and not a wasp like small and slim appearance.

There are 32 known bumble bee species in British Columbia

Bumble bees are large or medium sized bees conspicuously marked with yellow and black hairs, sometimes with additional red or white hairs. Most of the species collect pollen but those in the subgenus Psithyrus live as social parasites in the nests of other Bombus species. The genus is distributed in North and South America, in Eurasia and from the Philippines to western Indonesia. Some species have been introduced to other places, such as New Zealand and Australia.

The bumble bee is one of North and South America’s most important native pollinating bees, having a historical habitat range from the sub-arctic regions in the north to Chile in the south. This large and easily recognizable bee family is typically active from the early Spring until late Autumn.