Opening the field guide
Bombus spp.
A round, thoroughly furry bee whose hairy abdomen separates it from the shiny-backed carpenter bee.
Abdomen covered in dense hair, usually banded black and yellow
Stout, rounded body with a fuzzy thorax
Pollen carried in a smooth basket on the hind leg of workers and queens
Meadows, gardens, roadsides, and woodland edges. Colonies nest underground in old rodent burrows, under grass tussocks, or in cavities.
Social: a queen founds a colony each spring and workers forage through summer. Bumble bees buzz-pollinate, shaking pollen loose with rapid vibration — something honey bees cannot do.
Carpenter bees are similar in size and colour but have a shiny, hairless black abdomen, and they bore nest tunnels into wood rather than nesting in colonies underground.
Watch flowers rather than chasing individuals, and leave nest entrances alone. Bare ground and undisturbed grass edges matter more to bumble bees than bee hotels.
Docile while foraging and unlikely to sting unless a nest is threatened or a bee is trapped against skin. Only females can sting; stings are painful and can be serious for people with allergies.
Several North American bumble bees have declined steeply — the rusty patched bumble bee is federally endangered — from habitat loss, pesticides, disease, and climate pressure.
Sources are linked below. Field marks vary with age, sex, season, region, light, and viewing distance.
Danaus plexippus
An orange-and-black milkweed butterfly whose populations make extraordinary seasonal journeys.
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Limenitis archippus
A smaller monarch mimic, separated instantly by the black line that crosses each hindwing.
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Xylocopa virginica
A bumble-bee-sized bee with a bare, glossy black abdomen that tunnels its nest into wood.
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